The Trouble With Tabloids
by starrnobella
Summary: AU - All that tabloids are good for is to spread rumors.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Hey all! Here I am with my first multichapter Arrow story for you all to read. I've got about 13 chapters pre-written and I'm just at the midway point of the plot, so I figured it was as good as time as any to upload this first chapter.

All general disclaimers apply since I'm not making any money off this story or any of my other works, just writing for fun.

This story was run through Grammarly, but all other mistakes are my own.

Hopefully you enjoy this first chapter and are eagerly awaiting the next one!

Love always,

~starr

* * *

**CEO Cheats on Fiancée**

Adrian Chase

STARLING CITY - Queen Consolidated CEO playboy, Oliver Queen, was caught by paparazzi Friday night ushering a mystery woman, Sara Lance, out of his downtown apartment.

Queen proposed to Laurel Lance just last month, sources confirm after photos of the pair surfaced from a trip to Mexico. Photos show Queen kneeling in front of Lance presenting her with a box and then show the two celebrating happily as a newly engaged couple.

"I just can't believe it's true," Lance was quoted saying after hearing the news of her sister leaving Queen's apartment. "I had my suspicions, but I never expected to find out they were true.

Sources reached out to Queen Consolidated and Queen himself for a statement but did not hear anything back.

. . . . . . . .

**Queen Quits Company**

Adrian Chase

STARLING CITY - Oliver Queen, was seen walking out of Queen Consolidated today. Sources say he has quit his job with the intent to leave his life in Starling City behind. He is planning to move to Center City and open a company to rival Queen Consolidated.

"I've had it with the lack of privacy," Queen was quoted from an interview last week with Starling City News.

Queen Consolidated has no statement at this time.

. . . . . . . .

**Lance Leaves Louse**

Adrian Chase

STARLING CITY - Laurel Lance was spotted today without her engagement ring in court today as she continued working the case against Starling City Drug Lord, the Wizard.

She has also been seen with Thomas Merlin on numerous occasions since Oliver Queen was seen with Lance's sister, Sara. Lance seems to be doing well despite the broken relationship between her and Queen.

Queen has no statement at this time.

. . . . . . . .

Oliver threw the paper into the fireplace in his apartment. He knew that his name was going to be dragged through the mud when he took over as CEO at Queen Consolidated, but he wasn't expecting Laurel and Sara's to be dragged right along with it. He hadn't spoken to either of the Lance sisters since he had taken over his father's company over a year ago. Life got crazy and had torn them all apart in different directions.

He swore that the tabloids were looking for something to talk about and apparently it was the Queen family's turn to be in the headlines. The only good that had come from this was that it was no longer Thea in the headlines. Since their mother had died, she had started acting out. The only time Oliver ever seemed to see her was when she came home at the same time he was on his way out the door to go to work in the morning.

Soon the reporters would find someone else's life to disrupt and then Oliver could go back to worrying about more than just whose life the tabloids were set to destroy with their lies. Or at least he could hope that was the case for the time being. Honestly, if it weren't for that Adrian Chase, the Queen family name would seldom be in the tabloids. The headlines in general, though? That would never end.

He looked on into the fire for a little while longer until the buzzing in his pocket roused him from his thoughts. The damned thing had been ringing off and on for the last three days. A different reporter from the Starling City Sentinel was trying to set up a meeting with him.

Felicity Smoak.

There was a small part of him that was hoping if he continued to ignore her phone calls, she would just stop calling. That thought had crossed his mind three weeks ago, and yet the calls kept coming.

Rolling his eyes with a sigh, Oliver slipped his hand into his pocket to retrieve his phone. A familiar phone number flashed across the screen. He stared at it for a few moments as he contemplated his options. He could ignore yet another call from her and hope that it would be the last one he received, or he could answer her and get the interview over with. She probably just wanted to get a statement confirming the wildfire of rumors that Chase had started.

He weighed his options carefully for a few more moments before declining the call. It was already late. She could call him again in the morning if it was really that important and he was sure she would be calling yet again. Without even a second look, he shoved the phone back into his pocket and walked over the bar on the opposite side of his loft.

. . . . . . . .

_You've reached Oliver Queen's cell phone. I can't come to the phone right now. Please leave a brief message with your name and a phone number, and I will get back to you._

Felicity rolled her eyes as she waited for the beep. She could recite his voicemail message in her sleep. This was the fourth straight evening that she had tried calling him to set up a meeting. Not to mention the multiple voicemails she had left him during the day. His voicemail box had to be getting full.

As the voice was coming through the speaker, Felicity let out a sigh as the beep finished. "Hello, Mr. Queen. This is Felicity Smoak from the Starling City Sentinel calling to schedule an interview with you for an article to run in the near future about Queen Consolidation since you have taken over the company. Give me a call back at your earliest convenience to schedule a meeting. My time is rather flexible, so I will make my schedule work with yours. Thank you and have a good evening."

"Pompous jackass," Felicity mumbled as she slammed her work phone shut. Oh, the joys of still owning a flip phone. There was no concern that anything you muttered under your breath would be added to your message because pressing the button on a smartphone didn't register the first time it was touched.

She tossed the phone aside and collapsed on her couch. It had been a long day of meetings and having to justify why she didn't have an article for her boss yet. If she had to hear Adrian Chase's name one more time, she would scream. Chase's existence was almost enough to push her over the edge and quit.

"He's not even a damn reporter," she huffed pushing herself up off the couch and stormed over to the small kitchen in her apartment. She tossed open the door to her refrigerator and grabbed the full bottle of red wine that she had been saving for a night such as tonight.

She couldn't wait to have a meeting with her editor the next morning and have to explain why she still did not have the article that she was asking for. It wasn't her fault that she had morals and wanted to present the most accurate facts to the public. She actually cared about her reputation as a reporter, unlike Chase.

His rumors were probably the reason that Felicity couldn't get a meeting with the illustrious Oliver Queen. She honestly couldn't blame him for being skeptical of the press. They hadn't exactly shown the best side of the Queen family. In fact, almost every article Felicity had ever read about the Queen family had a few rumors peppered through it. She could see why the family would refuse to answer calls from the local press.

She sighed before retreating to her bed for the night. Tomorrow was another day, and hopefully, she'd have some luck getting through to Mr. Queen. Even if it took another seven phone calls, she decided it would be best to keep her hopes up so that she'd be able to tell her boss at least she was actively working on it.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone for the kind words on Chapter 1! I'm sorry this chapter is short, but it's the best point for me to put a break in between chapters. I'll try to get Chapter 3 ready to go over the next couple of days so that the wait isn't too long!

If you are interested in keeping up with me outside of just the hosting site for my stories. Find me on social media by searching my penname! starrnobella will get you to most of my accounts!

Let me know what you think!

Love always,

~starr

* * *

The blaring of Oliver's alarm clock roused him from his slumber ridiculously early the next morning. It felt as though he had only been asleep for an hour or so before the damned thing had gone off. His left hand reached out lazily to smack the snooze button to allow himself a few more moments of peace and quiet before he had to deal with the insanity that came with being the CEO of Queen Consolidated.

Rolling over onto his back, Oliver sighed as his head hit the pillow. Instead of allowing him to drift off to sleep for a few more moments, his mind began to tumble over the ever-growing to-do list that he had to accomplish before the week's end. One of those items being that he needed to call back the persistent _Ms. Smoak_. The hate that he felt for reporters emulated his feelings towards the people he chased after his day at the office was done.

He had never had the pleasure of interacting with Ms. Smoak. Although from what he could tell upon reading her work, she seemed to be a respectable journalist. All of the information that she seemed to report on was backed up with evidence. An idea that seemed to elude Mr. Chase.

Oliver shook his head, shoving all thoughts of Chase aside before pushing himself off the mattress and finally getting out of bed. Regardless of how the cards for the day were dealt, he was in for a very busy day full of meetings, phone calls, and appointments. Hopefully, his secretary had the schedule already plugged into his calendar, so all he needed to do was look at his phone and he would know exactly who he was meeting with and for what reason.

He sighed as he got out of bed and padded across the master bedroom to the ensuite master bath to get ready for the day, regardless of how much he would rather just stay in bed. His night job kept him up all night, which made it rather difficult to get to his day job on time. Someday being the vigilante would kill him, and it wouldn't be because someone actually got close enough to kill him, it would be because the lack of sleep and necessary nutrition and sleep required to survive.

. . . . . . . .

On her way into the office, Felicity checked her messages for the umpteenth time looking for a return phone call from the illustrious Mr. Queen and was slightly disheartened that she found no call. She knew that he was a busy man after all, but she was holding out hope that he would at least be courteous enough to return one of her many phone calls.

"This is not how I wanted to spend my day," she mumbled as she made her way through the foray towards the elevator. The thought crossed her mind that maybe her boss would pull the article idea and she could forget the whole thing, but somehow she knew that sounded too good to be true.

Quickly she slipped into the elevator and tipped her head against the cold wall of the elevator, closing her eyes momentarily as she waited to feel the rise of the machine taking her towards her quiet office where she could hide from the reality of the world around her.

"Hold the elevator!" a voice yelled as a hand appeared right inside the closing door.

Felicity shook her head and stepped forward to press the button reopening the elevator door as the mysterious hand and voice entered the elevator. A sigh of relief escaped Felicity's lips when Tommy Merlyn's face stepped inside.

"Thanks, Felicity," he said with his ever charming grin painted proudly on his face. "How are you doing this morning?"

"I've been better. I spent my entire weekend trying to set up an interview for my latest assignment and haven't gotten anywhere with it," she replied, "how are you?"

"Can't complain. Just found out the article I turned in on Friday will be tomorrow's headline," he said before turning to face her and quirking his brow. "Who have you been trying to get a hold of?"

Felicity sighed and hung her head, scrubbing her free hand over her face and adjusting her glasses. "The infamous "cheating" CEO of Queen Consolidated, Oliver Queen."

"Oh." was all Tommy could say before the elevator stopped to allow more people to file inside.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **I'm back with the longest chapter to date with this story and that's only because where I ended this chapter seemed to make the most sense.

Something I feel as though I need to make certain that I address because the confusion has been made a few times, is that this story is an Alternative Universe. I got the idea after reading a prompt somewhere that talked about tabloids ruining someone's life and thus this story was born. Tommy doesn't know who Oliver is personally in this story, just knows him as the CEO of Queen Consolidated.

I'm happy to hear that people have been enjoying this story. I've slowly been working on this for well over a year now. I'm having fun sharing it at my pace.

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

**Queen Scheduled to Undergo Surgery**

Adrian Chase

STARLING CITY - Oliver Queen, billionaire playboy and CEO of Queen Consolidated, is scheduled for surgery in the coming weeks to remove a tattoo. That tattoo is said to be a "mistake" from his college years.

But is it really a mistake or is it something that Queen would just prefer the world not know about? Luckily for the readers of this paper, we were able to figure out what exactly Queen was trying to hide.

Queen's tattoo is said to be that of a playful dolphin. It is remnants of his college days.

. . . . . . . .

"Where the hell does he get this stuff?" Oliver huffed, crumbling the newspaper and throwing it into the roaring fireplace inside his office. Scrubbing his hands over his face, Oliver carded his hands through his hair before returning to his desk. "At least this time it was only a tattoo he was creating in his demented mind."

The buzz of his cell phone drew him out of his thoughts. Voicemail from Felicity Smoak. Saving her number in his phone just made it easier for him to avoid her calls. The media was the last thing he wanted to talk to after all of these tabloid articles coming out. However, he knew that at some point he would need to talk to someone. At least maybe Ms. Smoak could do some good.

He lifted the phone to his ear to listen to what she had to say.

"_Hello, Mr. Queen. This is Felicity Smoak from the Starling City Sentinel calling to schedule an interview with you for an article to run in the near future about Queen Consolidation since you have taken over the company. Give me a call back at your earliest convenience to schedule a meeting. My time is rather flexible, so I will make my schedule work with yours. Thank you and have a good evening." _

"Evening?" Oliver mumbled as he lowered the phone away from his ear. Checking the timestamp on his phone, he shrugged before sighing as he pressed the redial button. At least if he returned her call, it allowed him a few more missed calls, right?

"Hello?" a somewhat familiar voice answered on the other end of the phone.

"Ms. Smoak? This is Oliver Queen," he replied.

"Oh, wow. Mr. Queen. Hello," Felicity stumbled, causing Oliver to smile slightly as he waited for her bearings on the conversation. "Thank you for returning my call."

"I do apologize for it taking a while. As I'm sure you're aware, I've been avoiding calls from the media," he replied. Oliver leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on his desk as he spoke.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'm just glad you've returned my call," Felicity said. "I was wondering if you'd be willing to sit down for an interview. As a way to, you know, put your name back into the good light with the media."

Oliver laughed, "It would be nice to see an article about me and it not be painted full of lies."

"And I'd love to have the by-line for it," she replied eagerly. Her excitement radiating through the phone. "When would you be available for an interview?"

"There are a few things that you need to know before we can really get to an interview," Oliver began, "and besides, I have to decide whether or not I can trust you first."

"Oh, uh. Yeah, I guess that would make sense," she replied. He could practically hear her smacking her head against the wall, thinking about what to say next. It brought a smile to his lips. She seemed to be trustworthy, but he had to be sure.

"So, let's meet for coffee," Oliver suggested patiently as he waited for her reply.

"Coffee?" Felicity stuttered, almost dropping the phone from her hands.

"Yes, coffee," Oliver chuckled. "Tomorrow morning at nine is open in my calendar. Is it good for you?"

"Tomorrow at nine?" Felicity repeated and Oliver could hear the furious typing away of her on her keyboard to check on her availability. "Yeah, nine works. Uh, where should I meet you?"

"Corner coffee shop, block away from Queen Consolidated," he replied.

"I will be there. Thank you again, Mr. Queen," she said.

"Please, call me Oliver. I'll see you tomorrow morning, Ms. Smoak," Oliver told her.

"If you'd prefer that I call you Oliver, then please call me Felicity," she said, "and I will see you tomorrow morning. Have a good day, Mr. Quee-, er, Oliver."

"You too, Felicity," Oliver replied as he hung up the phone. He laughed as he placed his phone on his desk and interlaced his fingers placing them behind his head. The day may have just gotten a little bit brighter now that the next morning was beginning to look a little bit brighter.

. . . . . . . .

"Holy shit," Felicity mumbled, slumping down in her chair and spinning around just slightly as she sighed. She rested her head against the top of the chair and closed her eyes momentarily. It had only taken her six months, but she was finally getting the chance to sit down and talk with the one and only Oliver Queen.

"Whatever it is, I didn't do it," Tommy called as he walked past her office door, tossing his head back with a laugh.

Felicity rolled her eyes as she leaned forward in her chair. "Nothing can get me down today, Merlin! I have scored the meeting that I have been working on for months."

"Oh?" Tommy asked, popping his head inside her doorway. He quirked his brow curiously. "Queen finally called you back?"

The smile on her face was the only answer Tommy needed. He shook his head with a laugh. "Impressive. You are the first reporter to get a meeting with him since his return from the dead."

"Then I guess I'll need to make it one hell of a meeting. Now leave me alone so that I can get to work on those questions," she said, shoo-ing him back out her door with a laugh.

"Hats off to you, Smoak," he said with a bow as he backed out of her office.

Felicity just continued smiling as she flipped through the files on her desk. Each one of them containing the slim amount of research she was able to gather from Adrian Chase's assistants. She could barely call what was in the folders research because it was the bare minimum information that anyone with access to the internet could gather on the man.

She's said it once and she'd say it a million times more. That man was a sorry excuse a reporter and it infuriated her more than anything. He was known for his blatantly relentless spreading of lies and there was nothing that Felicity hated more than a liar.

Glancing down at her desk she noticed that there was a copy of the day's paper that Tommy must have left during his visit. She rolled her eyes when she noticed the by-line on the headlining article.

"Speaking of liars," she mumbled under her breath, picking up the paper. All she could do was shake her head as she read what he had to say.

. . . . . . . .

**Vigilante Spotted Near Verdant**

Adrian Chase

STARLING CITY - Everyone into the party scene has spent at least one regretful evening at Verdant, local night club/bar, owned by Thea Queen, sister of Queen Consolidated CEO, Oliver Queen. Apparently, the "friendly" neighborhood Vigilante even enjoys the party scene from time to time.

The Green Arrow was spotted last night lurking around the nightclub after hours as though he was looking for someone or something. Some believe that he was there looking for trouble and others believe that the vigilante was just out to have a good time.

Since the vigilante is next to impossible to track down for an interview, the people of Starling City may never know the truth. The likely answer is that the Green Arrow was out looking for trouble since a few hours later, a few masked robbers were dropped off outside the Starling City precinct with wounds that looked to be left by arrows.

. . . . . . . . .

"Where does he even come up with this stuff?" Felicity huffed as she practically tore the page out of the paper flipping to the next section where she hoped to find an article that would be much more pleasant to read. Unfortunately, in the Starling City Sentinel, reliable news was hard to come by since Chase joined the staff.

Sighing she set the paper aside and turned to her computer. She was finally able to snag a meeting with Oliver Queen, which meant she needed to do her research ahead of time so that when they finally sat down, no precious time would go to waste.

Her conscious decided that it was time to wake up and remind her of the reality of the situation however as she typed his name into the search bar of her internet provider. It wasn't the interview that she had been trying to score. It was only a meeting to see if she was worthy of knowing his secrets and to learn a few things that she needed to know before they could sit down for the interview the world was waiting for.

She was going to prove to everyone that Adrian Chase was a fake if it was the last thing she did in her career as a journalist. Being able to meet with Oliver Queen was just the first step she needed to be able to accomplish everything she needed to prove her suspicions.

. . . . . . . . .

"Have you seen this?" Thea announced, walking into Oliver's office with a page of the newspaper in her hands. She shook her head when she realized that her own brother hadn't even realized that she had come into see him. Stopping just in front of his desk, she slammed her hand down on the desk, jarring his attention away from whatever file it was that he was looking over. "Hello? Anyone in there?"

Surprised by the sound of her hand meeting his desk, Oliver slowly lifted his head up to meet the eyes of his younger sister. As their eyes met, he noticed that the youngest Queen was not happy about something. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a copy of the Starling City Sentinel in her hands and his head dropped with a sigh.

"What did he accuse me of now?" Oliver asked, lifting his head once again to meet her eyes.

Shoving the paper in his general direction, Thea collapsed into one of the chairs across from his desk as she crossed her arms over her chest. "It wasn't you this time, technically," she said, making quotation marks with her pointer and middle fingers.

With his brow furrowed, Oliver turned the paper around to see what exactly she was referring to and allowed his eyes to search the page for the byline he was becoming far too familiar with searching for. Spotting the name he was looking for, he quickly skimmed the article.

"Why can't this jackass just leave us alone?" Thea remarked, glaring at the piece of paper as if hoping that it would spontaneously catch on fire.

"I'm sorry, Speedy," he said sympathetically. If he was being honest with himself, he had been asking the exact same question since the first article had surfaced a few months ago. There was a small part of him that wished he could tell Thea the truth about why the Green Arrow would have been spotted near Verdant, but if he did that he was putting her in danger. Putting his baby sister in danger just wasn't an option in his opinion.

"What have I told you about calling me Speedy?" Thea sighed, rolling her eyes. Oliver laughed at her reaction, eliciting a glare from her that brought a smile to his lips. She rolled her eyes once again. "I don't even know what the Vigilante would want with my club. The guys that he busted up weren't dealers, like the last time.

"They were just robbers who happened to get caught by the wrong person. Hell, they are lucky that the arrows only maimed them. From what I've seen, the Green Arrow could have killed them if those arrows would have been aimed a little bit higher. It's not like he hasn't killed before. I wonder what changed," she huffed.

Taking a deep breath, Oliver thought about his next set of words very carefully. He was going to be toeing a very fine line and one wrong word would send his entire world crumbling around him. He already had enough riding on this secret when he sat down with that reporter tomorrow.

"Maybe the Green Arrow had a change of heart," Oliver said with a shrug, leaning back in his chair as he steepled his fingers before placing his hands in his lap. He watched as she thought over what he had just said.

"I doubt it," she said coldly. "My guess is that he almost got caught the last time he killed someone, so he's probably just laying low and luring the cops into a false sense of security."

Oliver inhaled sharply at her calloused words causing her to furrow her brow at him, only to have him shake his head in response. "You don't know what made him change his MO, Speedy," he snapped.

"And you do?" she hissed, pushing herself up out of the chair. "Whatever. It's not like you care about the reputation my club gets anyways. I'll talk to you later."

With that said, she made her way towards the door before his voice halted her in her tracks. Shaking her head, she took a deep breath before turning back around to look at him. She knew he meant well, but ever since their mother had died, it just didn't seem like the Oliver sitting in front of her was the same brother that she had known for so long.

"What, Ollie?" she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, tapping her foot agitatedly.

"I do care about the reputation your club has. Why do you think I make it a point to stay away from it? If Chase got wind that I was hanging out around the club, he would find some way to twist it to shame both my reputation and the reputation of Verdant. If I can figure out a way to get him to keep our names out of the paper, then I will make it a personal goal to make sure that Verdant's name stays out his articles as well, okay?" he asked, tilting his head forward hoping that she would cave at least a little bit.

After a few moments of thought, Thea sighed. She knew better than anyone that if Oliver came around the club more than he already did on rare occasions that Chase would spin the story to make things worse for everyone. And if she was being honest with herself, she didn't need the SCPD spending any more time around the club. "Maybe your chat with Felicity Smoak will help to clear your name from Chase's bad publicity."

Taken back by her knowledge of the interview, Oliver furrowed his brow causing Thea to laugh. She pointed at the desktop calendar laying on his desk and he looked down and laughed. He had forgotten about writing down the appointment on his calendar after the two had gotten off the phone. "I was just about to ask how you knew about that," he said, shaking his head.

Thea laughed in response. "Well, I need to get back to the club and see if I can find a way to sort out this publicity. I'll see you around, Ollie."

"It was good to see you for more than a fleeting moment, Speedy," he replied after her.

She nodded, "Yeah it was. I guess we'll have to make it happen a little more often then."

"Sounds good to me. See ya, Speedy," he said, busying himself with a few of the files that were scattered around his desk.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Here's the next chapter of this exciting tale for you all to enjoy! This is the chapter we meet one of the villians of this tale. Hopefully I've written him with justice and you don't find him too out of character or anything.

Thank you to everyone who has followed, favorited, left kudos, and comments on this story. I appreciate them all and have enjoyed hearing your thoughts on this story so far.

If you are interested in keeping up with my updates and everything going on, follow me on social media. I'm on Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr! starrnobella is the perfect thing to search to find me!

Let me know what you think!

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

Tomorrow morning was the big day and Felicity needed to make sure that she was prepared for her coffee with Oliver Queen. She wanted everything to go perfectly so that he would agree to an interview for an article. An article that wouldn't be dragging his name through the dirt.

She knew that there was a chance that he would ultimately refuse to sit down to an interview, but she couldn't let that negative possibility be the determining factor for how this sit down was going to go. Regardless of how tomorrow would go, she would be the first reporter to finally sit down with him. The man was practically an enigma.

He was the most difficult man in the world to schedule a meeting with and Felicity Megan Smoak, a reporter for the Starling City Sentinel, had snagged a meeting. That simple fact alone is what justified the glass of wine she was about to enjoy.

"Even if this blows up in my face I was able to get a meeting," she said, raising the glass of wine to her lips and taking a sip of the cold liquid. It felt refreshing as it made its way down her throat. Sighing with satisfaction, she made her way back to her closet in a desperate attempt to select an outfit tomorrow.

. . . . . . . .

"There's one tracking you on your six, Green Arrow," John's voice announced through his earpiece. Turning around quickly, Oliver drew his bow and fired in the direction John had instructed.

"Two down. Where do they have the hostages?" Oliver asked.

"I'm not getting any more heat signatures coming up on the screen other than you and the two you just put down. Let me see if I can get another visual on the building," John replied.

"Okay," he said, continuing along the hallway he had been searching. Something seemed off about this warehouse, but those two thugs made it seem as though he was in the right place. It wasn't like Deathstroke to take hostages when there wasn't a point in it. So what was it about this situation that warranted him taking hostages?

"I've got eyes on Deathstroke," John announced as Oliver rounded the corner coming face to face with his former Island cellmate.

"So do I," Oliver mumbled, drawing his bow back and aiming at Deathstroke's head. "What are you doing here, Slade?"

"I could ask you the same question," Slade replied, narrowing his eyes at Oliver. He knew exactly what Oliver was doing here, and it was exactly where he wanted him to be. He had already taken the boy's mother away and he had full intentions of ripping away everyone else whom Oliver held near and dear to his heart. He knew it wouldn't be hard because for as long as Slade had known him, Oliver had only ever talked about four women.

_Moira Queen. Thea Queen. Laurel Lance. Sara Lance. _

All four women had proven to be an Achilles Heel of sorts for Oliver. Any threat that was made towards them was met with hostility and seemingly empty threats, seeing as the Green Arrow's choice of violence no longer ended in death, only severely maiming his target.

Ever since he and Oliver had gotten off the Island, Slade had been keeping tabs on him. He had made the young man a promise and he intended to do just that. With Adrian Chase in his back pocket, Slade was able to pull strings on Oliver's life that the poor boy didn't even know he was pulling. Slade had been feeding the struggling reporter bits and pieces of things to report on since his arrival in Starling City.

"The choice is yours, Arrow. I made you a promise that I intend to keep. I had to make the first choice, and I'd hate to have to choose the second. However, if you don't, I'll be happy to make the selection again. I'm thinking one of the sisters will be a wonderful sacrifice," Slade said, smiling as he watched the Green Arrow's pupils dilate at his promise. "The hostages have already been set free. I'll be in touch soon."

With that said, Slade turned and walked away from Oliver, leaving him standing in the middle of a hallway of an abandoned warehouse dumbfounded. He wasn't sure what his next move would be, but he knew that Laurel and Sara were in danger and it was his fault. Something was going to have to give somewhere.

. . . . . . . .

Upon his arrival back to the bunker, Oliver shoved his bow back into the case. As he turned around, he was met face to face with John and the face he was met with was not one of happiness.

"What was he talking about, Oliver?" John asked, impatiently crossing his arms over his chest as he waited for an answer.

"I wasn't alone on the Island the entire time I was gone," Oliver admitted, scrubbing his hands over his face and then scratching his head. This was why he didn't parade his past around other people. It meant having to reveal secrets that he would much rather have kept hidden for a little while longer.

"Who else was there?" John replied. The frown on his face had hardened into a firm line. Honestly, he was sick of being kept in the dark, but the pieces of Oliver's past that he was privy to make him understand why he kept so much of it to himself for so long. Although with friends from his past coming into place, those secrets wouldn't be staying hidden much longer.

"Slade Wilson," Oliver replied. "Or better known to you as Deathstroke. I'm the reason that he has the eye patch. I may have shot him in the eye with an arrow during a fight on the Island."

"I'm not sure I want to know what happened to make you shoot him in the eye with an arrow, but what made him decide that he was coming here? What choice is he talking about?" John asked.

"He killed my mother and has threatened to kill everyone that I love or have ever loved," Oliver admitted with defeat, walking away from the case that held his suit and sat on one of the tables on the other side of the bunker.

"When he threatened my mother, he also threatened Thea. He wanted me to choose which one died and which one lived. But I wasn't given much of a choice when he aimed the gun at Thea and as he pulled the trigger, my mother dove in front of her taking the bullet directly through her heart," he continued quietly.

John nodded slowly. "Oliver, you were faced with an impossible decision and your mother made the choice to die so that Thea didn't have to. She didn't want you to be alone in the world. But now that Slade's resurfaced, don't you think we need to put Thea in protective custody?" he suggested.

"I'd love to, but she won't let me. You remember the hard time I gave you when you first became my bodyguard?" Oliver replied.

Again, John nodded his head, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Just picture it being ten times worse and that's what you get with Thea. She has refused a bodyguard since she learned how to say that word no. Even when Slade held a gun to her head, she would have refused protection. We have to take out Slade before anything can happen to her," Oliver told him.

He looked down at the watch on his wrist and sighed. It was almost one in the morning and he had to be up bright and early for a meeting. It wouldn't be wise of him to cancel on Ms. Smoak on such short notice, especially after she had been so persistent to schedule a meeting and she had been rather accommodating with his special request to get coffee before the actual interview.

"Late for a date?" John asked, laughing quietly to himself.

"Not yet, but if I don't get some sleep I'll be late for a morning meeting. If I'm late, I'm pretty sure the reporter will ask for my head on a silver platter," Oliver replied, gathering up a few of his things and making his way towards the exit. "Same time tomorrow, Dig?"

"Yes sir," John replied with a nod.

. . . . . . . .

"What do you wear to coffee with the CEO of the biggest company in Starling City?" Felicity mumbled to herself as she rummaged through the clothing in her closet. Every outfit she looked at for more than five seconds didn't seem to give off the right vibe. There was no way in hell she was going to screw this up and part of that was making sure that she was wearing the right outfit.

She turned to look at the few choices she had laid out on her bed. A slimming black dress. A business pants suit. A maxi dress. These were the best options she could come up with and she hated them all. What the hell was the matter with her?

If she was being honest with herself, she didn't have the slightest clue what the answer to that question was. None of her other meetings ever had so much riding on them. This meeting was to set her up for the ultimate interview that would guarantee her a spot in the hall of fame of reporters at the Starling City Sentential.

Although the other question that kept bouncing around in her mind was why did her outfit choice matter? She wasn't trying to get laid. All she wanted was to score an interview. Her outfit shouldn't play any role in that, but she wasn't willing to take any chances.

She looked at the choices on her bed once more. "Come on, Smoak. Make up your mind. If you don't get to sleep soon, you'll never be ready for tomorrow," she mumbled to herself. Felicity picked up the maxi dress and looked at it for a few brief moments and shook her head, tossing it to the side.

"Doesn't scream I'm trustworthy, you should definitely sit down to an interview with me," she sighed. Now she was down to two choices. Two of the outfits that happened to be favorites of hers. One a little smarter than the other. However, one was also a little luckier than the other.

Making her decision, she picked up the pants suit and threw it over into her closet. The dress was the clear winner here. Her only hope was that Mr. Queen was a dress man and not someone who preferred the more professional look.

Glancing over at her clock on the nightstand, she sighed. _1:30 am_. She should have gone to sleep almost two hours ago. Rolling her eyes, she walked over to the light switch and flipped it off. She made her quickly back to her bed and collapsed face down into her pillows.

_Who actually needed eight full hours of sleep to be a completely functional adult anyways? _Flipping herself over with a loud sigh, Felicity pushed her head back into the pillow and closed her eyes. Hopefully, dreamland would take over soon.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** When the muse doesn't want to work on the stories that need to be written, might as well post a chapter to something that's been prewritten. Special thanks to everyone who has taken the time to leave comments and reviews on this piece. It's been greatly appreciated and I'm hoping you enjoy this next chapter!

Let me know what you think!

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

"_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep_," blared the alarm clock as it bounced around on the nightstand beside his bed. Lazily, Oliver reached over and smacked the top of the stand a few times until his hand finally hit the alarm clock and grabbed it. He pulled it over to his face and opened one of his eyes to read what time it said. _5:30 am_. The lone thought that crossed his mind at the time was that he was honestly shocked there was a 5:30 in the morning as well as in the evening. He couldn't think of the last time he had actually set an alarm to that time.

Groaning, he turned the alarm off and pushed himself up in a sitting position. He scrubbed his hands over his face and looked around the dark room. He scratched an itch on the back of his head before tossing the comforter aside and slowly getting out of the bed.

He walked over to the curtain covered window and moved on curtain slightly. However, no sunlight entered the room when he did so. He looked out the window and noticed that it was still dark outside. The sun was just barely peeking out above the horizon. He was up before the sunrise. This was definitely a first.

Deciding that he couldn't procrastinate any longer, he walked away from the window and made his way into the en suite bathroom. Hopefully, his shower would wake him up slightly. He reached into the shower and turned the hot water faucet on. While he waited for the water to warm up, Oliver walked over to the mirror and looked at his reflection.

He looked tired. That was the curse of being the vigilante at night and the CEO of a fortune five hundred company. He was lucky if he ever got more than maybe four hours of sleep at night. He honestly couldn't even remember what eight hours of sleep felt like anymore. He was pretty sure that the last time he had gotten eight hours of sleep was when he was in high school. Although the more he thought about it, the more he realized that the reality of the situation was that he hadn't slept for eight hours ever in his life.

Sighing, he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands and then stretched his arms above his head. It was time to get in the shower and get on with his day. The only way the day would end was if it would actually begin. Although, how bad could getting coffee with a pretty blonde be?

He furrowed his brow at the thought. Pretty blonde. What if she wasn't blonde anymore? The last time he could remember seeing her was at some press event he was required to attend for Queen Consolidated. He was pretty sure she was blonde then. He had always thought she was pretty, especially when he would see her picture by an article that she wrote in the papers.

"Stop it," he mumbled under his breath to his brain. He could not allow himself to think those kinds of thoughts about her. The whole purpose of this meeting was for him to determine whether or not he'd be willing to sit down to an interview with her. Although he knew in the back of his mind that he was going to say yes to her interview. He needed to do something to get the Queen name back in a positive light in the Starling City Sentinel. Chase couldn't be the only one writing articles about him.

. . . . . . . .

Rolling over onto her back, Felicity looked over at the clock on her nightstand and sat straight up in the bed, grabbing the clock and holding it close to her face. _How was it already 6:15 am?_ Her alarm was supposed to go off an hour ago. Why hadn't it gone off?

She flipped her clock around a few times in her hands looking for a reason as to why her alarm hadn't gone off when she spotted the one button that was out of place. Smacking herself in the forehead with the heel of her hand, she set the clock back down on the nightstand and threw the blanket off of her lap as she got out of the bed. She had set the alarm, but she didn't turn the damn thing on.

"This is not a good sign," she mumbled under her breath as she made her way into the bathroom. She turned on the shower and quickly hopped inside. So much for making sure she was at her best this morning. She just barely had time to wash her body and her hair before she had to be out the door on the way to the coffee shop.

Fifteen minutes later, she emerged from the shower and wrapped a towel around her body before heading back into her bedroom to start getting dressed. The entire time she got dressed, she was muttering under her breath and cursing her alarm clock as well as her own stupidity.

As she was about to curse the day in general, she stopped herself and took a deep breath. No, it wasn't going to be a bad day. She was going to coffee with one of the most eligible bachelors in Starling City and she was going to score the interview that would make her career. She just had to charm him, and that was something that the Smoak women did best. Or so her mother had always told her anyways.

Glancing over at the clock on her nightstand she realized that she had a little over an hour before she absolutely had to get out of the house. If she wanted to be early to coffee, she had a little less than forty-five minutes to get out the door. Looking at the collection of make-up lying in front of her, she made the ultimate decision to keep things simple.

He probably wouldn't even notice anyway. She was sure that he had his fair share of pretty blondes walking in and out of his life every day, so she probably wouldn't even leave an overall impression on him. As long as she impressed him enough to score the interview was all that really matters to her, but she wouldn't mind impressing him for more than that.

She shook her head. Where the hell did that thought come from? Why on earth would Oliver Queen, CEO of Queen Consolidated, want to go out with her, a measly reporter for the Starling City Sentinel? He had probably just agreed to the meeting just to get her to stop calling him.

Not that she could really blame him. As she thought about it, she realized that she had been one of the most annoying people in the entire world with all of her phone calls. Pausing the application of her make-up, she thought about the number of calls she had made to his number. In the last month alone, she had probably called him about thirty-five times and left him just as many voicemails. She didn't even want to think about the number of emails that she had sent him in the last month alone.

"Focus, Smoak. You can daydream about him later," she scolded herself, pressing the brush into her eyeshadow. She needed to get ready so that she could get her day underway. Work was paying for the coffee this morning, so she wanted to make sure that she took advantage of the opportunity.

. . . . . . . .

She looked down at the watch on her wrist for the fifteenth time in the last thirty minutes. "Where is he?" she mumbled under her breath as she scanned the coffee shop for a familiar face. He had selected the meeting spot and time, so why wasn't he here yet?

Reaching down to pick up her purse, Felicity began to rummage through it to locate her phone. Maybe she had put the wrong location into her calendar. Or maybe it was the wrong time. The only other possibility was that she had put the wrong date all together into her calendar. Locating her phone, she pulled it out of her bag and swiped it open.

Just as she was about to open the calendar app, someone bumped into her table causing the cup of coffee she had just ordered to rattle slightly. "Watch where you're going," she mumbled, lifting her head to see who bumped into the table and almost immediately slapped her hand over her mouth. Quickly she rose the table and offered the person her hand.

"I'm so sorry for my reaction, Mr. Queen. I thought I was in the wrong coffee shop and was just checking to double check or call you or something. I thought I may have had the wrong date too. I'm just a mess this morning," she said, shaking her head and placing her hands over her eyes. "And I'm rambling on about nonsense. I'm sorry. Can I get you a cup of coffee, courtesy of the Starling City Sentinel?"

Oliver placed a gentle hand on her shoulder to calm her slightly. "You aren't rambling about nonsense. It's okay. I actually already placed an order, so how about you get the next one?" he said, flashing her a bright smile.

"Uh, sure," Felicity replied taken back by his kindness. She extended a hand to him, which he took happily. "I'm Felicity Smoak, a reporter for the Starling City Sentinel. I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me this morning. Let's take a seat."

Oliver nodded in reply and walked around to pull out her chair before taking his own.

"Thank you," she said, taking a seat and crossing her ankles as she waited patiently for him to join her. "I just wanted to apologize for the articles that have been released about you lately. It makes me sick every time I see his by-line in the paper when it has something to do with your family tree. If it were up to me, I'd throw him off the paper for slander. But we can't all have what we want."

"Don't apologize," Oliver replied calmly. "Everyone has their niche when it comes to writing articles and apparently his is bashing the good name of someone who has only been back in Starling City for the better part of three years."

Felicity tilted her head and furrowed her brow. "You've only been back in town for three years? I could have sworn it had been longer than that," she replied. She took a few minutes to think about the headlines that she had seen regarding him over the last few years. Back when the headlines were all in good form anyway. No one was really thrown under the bus for breathing in the wrong direction. Back before Chase stepped foot into the paper.

Oliver laughed quietly at the shock in her voice about how long he had been back in Starling City, but at the same time, he too was still surprised at how long it really had been. There were days that it felt like just yesterday he had returned. At least it felt that way until he spotted his mother's tombstone in the backyard. Then reality would set in.

"It may seem like longer because of how often my name or my family's name has been appearing in the headlines," Oliver replied, lifting his coffee to his lips.

"I really hate that I work for the same paper as him," Felicity mumbled, a little louder than she had intended. When she realized what she had just said, she clapped a hand over her mouth and sighed. "That was really unprofessional of me. I'm sorry. Trust me, I'm not normally like this."

Oliver reached a hand out across the table and rested it on her wrist as he smiled. "You were just voicing your opinion, and besides, you never mentioned a name. So you could have been talking about anyone really."

Felicity sighed and nodded her head reluctantly. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Taking advantage of the brief pause in their conversation, Oliver took the opportunity afforded to him to take a good look at his company across the table. She was pretty, there was no denying that. Although, the fact that he had a thing for blondes may have given him a little bit of bias on the matter.

"So," Felicity began, tapping her fingers on the side of her coffee cup, "when we last spoke, you said there were a few things I needed to know before we'd be able to sit down to an interview. Is there any chance you'd be willing to elaborate on that?"

He hadn't heard the question, but from the look on her face, it had been something rather important. Admittedly, he hadn't heard the question because he was a little distracted as he was lost in his own thoughts. Inappropriate thoughts, if he was being honest with himself.

"Sorry, I was a little lost in my own thoughts. Could you repeat the question again?" Oliver asked, flashing her one of his brilliant smiles. The blush that appeared on her cheeks assured him that the smile had done the trick.

Felicity reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, smiling broadly for a moment. "And what thoughts had you so lost that you didn't hear a word I was saying?" she asked, batting her eyelashes at him a few times.

Quirking his brow, Oliver smiled slyly. "Wouldn't you love to know."

"Actually, I really would love to know," Felicity said with a laugh.

This was definitely going to be an interesting meeting, that was something they could both agree on for the moment. Hopefully, the outcome was what they both hoped it to be.

. . . . . . . .

"I can't believe you were just thrown into your father's shoes upon your return without any training," Felicity said, shaking her head slightly as she placed her cup down on the table. She bit her lip softly as she watched a smile appear on Oliver's face.

Nodding his head slowly, he set his own cup down as well. "Yeah, it was actually a shock to the board as well. There were a few people who quit when they heard the news," Oliver replied. That news was a shock to him when he had first found out about it, but at the same time, he could understand their reasoning. His past didn't exactly sparkle with greatness.

"That's not fair. It wasn't like you were given much of a choice in the matter," she continued. "They should have at least given you a chance. What's wrong with the people in this city? They spend all their damn time jumping to conclusions about things they don't understand."

A smile grew on his face as he listened to her talk. She really did have a way with words, so he knew that her article would be great. Although there was still a part of him deep down that wasn't quite ready to say yes to an interview for an article. Chase's work had really done in his opinion of the media in Starling City.

"They jump to conclusions about people they don't understand. Maybe if any of them would take five minutes and actually get to know them, they'd be able to put out a half decent story instead of one full of lies," she mumbled, pausing when she realized that Oliver was staring at her. Nervously she tucked a stray tendril of hair behind her ear and lowered her hands to her lap. "I'm rambling again, aren't I?"

Oliver slowly nodded his head, allowing his smile to broaden slightly.

Felicity brought her hands up to cover her face as she sighed. "I'm really sorry about this. I swear I'm not normally like this, but as I said before, these articles really get under my skin. They make respectable reporters like me get overlooked because we don't have that catchy headline. I'm sure Chase will have a real kicker of a headline for today's paper…"

"If we aren't careful, you could be part of his next headline," Oliver replied with a laugh. "He seems to take quite an interest in my personal life when he's not writing about the Green Arrow."

"I never even thought about that," Felicity said, clapping her hand over her mouth as she thought about the entirety of the situation.

"Felicity," Oliver said, reaching across the table and gently touching her elbow forcing her to lower her hand slightly from in front of her face. "Don't worry about Chase."

Felicity took a deep breath as she lowered her hands away from her face. She noticed the smile that Oliver was wearing when she finally met his eyes. His blue eyes met her blue ones, and she felt a smile pull at her lips.

"You're ri-," she began saying, only she was cut off by the sound of a large explosion behind her. Quickly she climbed down out of her chair as Oliver tried to guide her under the table.

"Stay here," he said through gritted teeth. "I'll be right back."

With that, Oliver left her alone at their table. Felicity wasn't sure what she was supposed to do, but she was certainly not going to sit and wait while something big was happening. Coverage of this explosion, or whatever it was would make a better story than an interview with Oliver Queen.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** This chapter is a little short and I apologize for that, but it felt like the right place to put a cut between scenes for a chapter break. Thank you to all of the faithful commenters and reviewers! I love you all so much!

Recently I have opened a group on Facebook called Quills & Arrows which is meant to be a place for fans of Arrow fanfiction to come together and share their works. I would love to have you all join the group and share all of the fanfiction you love containing our beloved Arrow characters. This group is not ship specific so if you aren't a fan of the main ships of the show feel free to search our Fic shop for pairings that you may love. You can also find Quills & Arrows on tumblr as well.

Let me know what you think!

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

"John, we have a problem," Oliver said, lifting his phone to his ear immediately after it rang. He was met with the laugh of his best friend on the other end of the phone.

"I was about to say the same to you. Where are you?" John replied.

"I was having coffee with that reporter from the Sentinel this morning. She wants to do an interview with me to try and counteract the bad publicity Chase has been putting out," Oliver replied, allowing his mind to wander back to the pretty reporter he had left behind in a rush. "I'm at that small shop on the corner of Parker and Fifth. Do we have a location of a blast?"

"Not yet. Something's wrong with our system. I've been trying to fix it all morning."

Oliver ran a hand over the top of his head as he made a sharp right at the end of the sidewalk. "Okay. I'm on my way to the bunker, but I think someone's following me. It may take me a bit." He looked back over his shoulder and thought he had seen the hint of a blonde ponytail, but he wasn't certain.

"Do you need me to call for backup?"

Oliver looked over his shoulder once more and realized who it was that he had seen. Shaking his head, he sighed before replying to John. "No. It's Felicity."

"Who's Felicity?"

"The reporter I was just with. I told her to stay back. Apparently, she doesn't listen very well."

"What are you going to do about her?"

"I guess I'm going to bring her with me. I can't really just leave her out here, can I?"

John sighed as he paused on the other end of the phone momentarily. "I guess not. What are you going to tell her?"

"The truth, I guess."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"No, but right now it's the only one I've got. I'll see you in a few."

With that, Oliver hung up the phone and turned the corner quickly, pressing his back up against the wall and waited for her. If she was trying to be sneaky in her efforts to follow him, she was failing desperately since she was only ever a few steps behind him. Laughing to himself quietly, he crossed his arms over his chest and waited.

. . . . . . . . .

"Where did he go?" Felicity mumbled to herself as she moved past the crowd of people who were standing in the middle of the sidewalk. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes and snap at them, she sidestepped the couple that was approaching her and made her way down the sidewalk quickly.

Just as she turned the corner, she felt a hand wrap around her waist and pull her out of the middle of the sidewalk.

"What the hell? Let me go!" she shouted as she began swinging her arms at the person who was touching her. Slowly she lifted her head to see who her captor was. "Shit."

"I thought I told you to stay at the coffee shop," Oliver grumbled, looking down at her as she stood in his embrace. He was forcing himself to ignore the rapid beating of his heart as his eyes met hers.

"Why would I stay behind? There's a story unfolding and I plan to be the first one to cover it," she replied quickly, fluttering her eyelashes briefly before taking a step back allowing Oliver's hand to drop back to his side.

"Because something near the coffee shop just exploded and you could get yourself killed being out here.." Oliver remarked, shaking his head briefly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I won't get killed. I'm not that clumsy," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Why is it safe for you to be out here? Something just exploded after all."

Oliver opened his mouth to say something but shut it again quickly. Now was not the time to have this discussion. They were in the middle of the sidewalk where literally anyone could walk by and overhear what they were saying.

He reached out and took her hand. "Come with me. I have to show you something."

Felicity looked at him for a few moments, weighing her options at that exact moment. Go somewhere with the most eligible man in Starling City or go figure out what the hell was happening to the city. Looking over her shoulder briefly, she noticed the cloud of smoke rolling up into the sky and then she turned her attention back to Oliver. His pleading eyes called to her.

"Fine, but if I lose my job as a reporter because I didn't follow up on this story, you owe me a job at Queen Consolidated," she told him, taking a few steps forward to stand closer to him.

Oliver tossed his head back with a laugh before nodding his head. "I think I can handle that. We were looking for someone to fill a position in our media center," he replied. He quickly took her by the hand and led her down a series of alleyways. She wasn't quite sure where he was taking her, but at this point, she couldn't really turn back.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Here's the next chapter! I'm hoping to be back to working on this story here soon. I've still got 7 more prewritten chapters to share with you all, however. Thank you to all of the faithful commenters and reviewers! I love you all so much!

Recently I have opened a group on Facebook called Quills & Arrows which is meant to be a place for fans of Arrow fanfiction to come together and share their works. I would love to have you all join the group and share all of the fanfiction you love containing our beloved Arrow characters. This group is not ship specific so if you aren't a fan of the main ships of the show feel free to search our Fic shop for pairings that you may love. You can also find Quills & Arrows on tumblr as well. I know I'd love to have you all and your friends in the fandom as members! :)

Let me know what you think!

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

"We have about ten minutes until someone figures out the source of the blast," Slade said, stalking toward the now open door of the warehouse. Looking back over his shoulder, he noticed that his lackeys had frozen in the blast. He fought the urge to roll his eyes as he crossed his arms over his chest. "What the hell do you think you are doing?"

The three lackeys exchanged a few nervous glances as they kicked the dirt in front of them. No one wanted to speak. At this point, they were walking a very fine line that would most likely end in their deaths if they weren't careful.

"Well?" Slade hissed. "We are running out of time to get this mission complete."

"Has everything detonated?" one of them finally asked, taking a small step forward.

"Of course it has!" Slade shouted, tossing his arms in the air. "Now get your asses in gear. I'm not in the mood to spend time in jail this morning."

Quickly the three lackeys ran from where they were standing into the building. Slade just watched and shook his head. He knew that it was going to be a long evening if these idiots were going to remain on his team for very much longer.

Slade pointed at two of the lackies as he spoke. "You two go find any electronics that you can find. They are coming with us. I'm going to look and see what else we can take with us down here. You," he said with a smirk, turning to face the last lacky, "will be keeping watch. We shouldn't be interrupted, but we do still need to be careful."

"Yes sir," they replied in unison before taking off.

Slade nodded his head proudly. "That's more like it."

. . . . . . . . .

"What have we got?" Oliver asked, walking into the bunker with Felicity in tow.

Her eyes were wide with excitement as she looked around the room she was currently standing in. Screens were flashing all around her, and they were bigger than anything she could have dreamed up. This place was amazing.

John turned toward Oliver and their guest and exhaled sharply. He waited in place for Oliver to join him in the center of the bunker with his arms crossed over his chest. "Nothing good."

Oliver tossed his head back slightly with a laugh. "I know that much, seeing as I was in the field when the blast happened. Do we know where it originated?"

"Are you sure we should be discussing this in front of her?" John asked, tilting his head in Felicity's direction. "What exactly does she know about all of this? You've spent the better part of the last three years trying to keep all of this a secret, and now -"

"I haven't told her anything yet," Oliver interrupted. "Keep your voice down. Until she asks, I'm not saying anything."

"Oliver, you brought a reporter down here and are letting her wander around aimlessly right now. What are you doing?"

"I don't know," Oliver hissed, gritting his teeth. "Instead of staying at the coffee shop, she decided to follow me. All I know is, she's nothing like Chase. So if someone's going to out me as the Arrow, I'd prefer it to be her."

"I don't like this," John replied, shaking his head as he looked over Oliver's shoulder watching Felicity move slowly from screen to screen.

"I don't either, Dig. But what other choice did I have? I needed to get down here..."

"You could have led her anywhere else. Or you know, _maybe _keep your coffee to under an hour."

"That's my fault," Felicity chimed in, walking over to them. "Trust me; I've got a lot of questions. But I can wait until all of this is over."

Oliver and John exchanged a glance before focusing their attention on Felicity. Undoubtedly she was going to have questions, but Oliver wasn't certain that he would be able to answer her questions. At least, he wasn't sure he'd be able to answer them in a way that would explain why she couldn't report on this.

"And I promise, I won't report on anything about this," Felicity said, motioning around the room they were currently standing in, "unless you tell me that it's okay. Can I ask one quick question?"

Oliver nodded his head as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Are we still in Starling City?" Felicity asked, nervously rubbing the top of her shoe against the back of her leg as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Oliver laughed, "Yes, we are still in Starling City."

"Good," Felicity said with a smile. "Alright, I'll leave you two to whatever it was you were discussing, and I'm going to stand over here."

Oliver turned to John and shrugged. "So do we know the point of origin?"

John sighed before walking over to the three computer screens. He reached down and clicked a few times. "I haven't been able to narrow anything down. I can't get this thing to stop beeping at me."

Oliver joined John at the screens and grabbed the mouse from his hand, clicking the mouse a few times. Nothing he clicked on seemed to stop the beeping. All it appeared to do was anger the technology. Scrambling, Oliver looked for the power button. Maybe turning it off would fix things.

"Do you want some help with that?" Felicity chimed in once again. Both Oliver and John turned toward her voice and then looked back at one another.

"You know something about computers?" Oliver replied, straightening up and leaning up against the table.

Felicity fought the urge she felt to roll her eyes at his comment. "Yes, I do know something about computers. I actually started working for the Sentinel in the IT department before I moved up to being a reporter."

Oliver glanced at John out of the corner of his eye, and both men shrugged before turning their attention back to Felicity. Oliver nodded his head slowly. "Very interesting."

"Have at it," John said, presenting the screens to her as he stepped to the side.

"I'll see what magic I can work," she replied, taking a seat in the chair in front of the screens. She slid toward the center of the screens and placed her fingers on the keys. Not long after she sat down, her fingers were rapidly clicking away at the keys as she made quick work of the beeping noise.

Deciding that he didn't really need to hover, Oliver took a few steps away from where she was sitting and rubbed his hand over the top of his head. He took a deep breath before scrubbing his hands over his face. As he lowered his hands, he noticed that John had come to stand next to him with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Don't," Oliver grumbled, looking at John out of the corner of his eye before his gaze drifted back to the computers.

"Don't what? I didn't say anything," John replied, following Oliver's line of sight and shook his head slightly.

"Nothing is going on between us."

"No one said there was unless something happened during coffee this morning…"

"Nothing happened during coffee. This was the first time I actually met this woman."

"That didn't stop you with Sara."

Oliver rolled his eyes. "I'm not talking about this right now. Especially not when she's within earshot."

John put his hands up and nodded. "Alright. I'll drop it. For now."

Oliver shook his head and walked back over to where Felicity was typing away furiously. She barely registered that he was standing near her. With the moment afford to him, he took the time to really look at her, more so than he had earlier.

He could sense John's eyes on the back of his head as his eyes trailed their way down her small frame. Scrunching his nose as she crossed his arms over his chest, he turned away from her and met the eyes that had been watching him. A smile appeared on John's face, and Oliver just shook his head.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Here's the next chapter for you all! I know it's super short and I'm sorry. I'll try to make up for it by getting the next chapter ready to go.

Interested in hanging out with me on social media? Search starrnobella and you'll find me! :)

Let me know what you think!

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

"Where the hell are they?" Slade yelled at the small gathering of his lackeys standing in front of him. Their eyes were darting all over the place, avoiding the angry eyes of their boss. His patience with the entire situation was wearing thin. "One of you damn well better answer me."

"We're not sure," one of them admitted nervously.

"What do you mean you're not sure? You were supposed to be helping them gather the equipment that remained unharmed by the bomb!"

"We decided to split off into smaller pai-"

"We decided? Who is we? Because I'm fairly certain that I told you to work together and the last time I checked, I'm the one who gives the orders in this operation."

Slade rubbed his hand over his face before scrubbing it over his face. His temper was starting to get the better of him, and he knew that the longer he stood here yelling at these idiots, the more likely they were to get caught.

"Go find them and return to the bunker. The rest of us will head back now. I'll deal with the insubordination when you all return."

. . . . . . . . .

"I've got movement!" Felicity shouted, spinning in the chair to face Oliver and John with a proud smile on her face.

"Where?" Oliver asked, walking over to the monitors and placing his hands on the back of Felicity's chair. He looked intently at the screen for a few moments before placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Great work."

"Where are we headed?" John asked, moving in the direction of his suit.

"Looks like the explosion originated in the abandoned Queen Consolidated warehouse in the lower east side of town. According to the surveillance cameras, Felicity was able to hack into; there are at least four people inside and six or seven leaving the perimeter. If we hurry, we can catch them," Oliver replied, walking over to the case that housed his own suit.

"You're the Green Arrow…" the words left her mouth before her brain had thoroughly thought out what exactly she was going to say.

Oliver froze in place, realizing that up until this point, she had been under the impression that he had drug her to a high tech bunker. He had never told her the truth about what he did outside of his work with Queen Consolidated.

"Go," Felicity said, shaking her head quickly as she ran a hand through her hair. "I can be starstruck when you guys get back."

Furrowing his brow, Oliver took a deep breath and refocused his attention back onto the matter at hand. He and John had a job to do. He could figure out what he was going to tell the reporter who had been interviewing him about his day job about his night job when they got back.

"There's a spare set of coms in the drawer," John announced as he walked back into the room. "Put a set in and keep an eye on the warehouse. You can be our eyes to places that we can't see in front of it."

Felicity pulled the drawer in front of her open and smiled when she saw the small box sitting inside. "Cool."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **Hello loves! I'm back with the next chapter of this tale. I'm sure there will be some questions regarding what was revealed in the last chapter, but hopefully this appeases you lovely readers!

If you are interested in following along with my updates for other stories or life in general, join my personal Facebook group: starrnobella Friends & Fans. I'm super active there and on tumblr under the name starrnobella.

Happy reading!

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

**Vigilantes Spotted Near Explosion Site**

Adrian Chase

STARLING CITY - Seems a little suspicious that the Vigilante and a friend were spotted at the scene of an explosion not long after the dust had settled. First responders were shocked to arrive on site and find traces of movement around the vicinity of the Queen Consolidated warehouse that exploded early this morning.

Reports from those first responders, it was determined that the vigilante, the Green Arrow, was on the scene along with a second vigilante that has been seen on rare occurrences running around the city with the Green Arrow. They appeared to be looking for something or quite possibly someone, but until they are apprehended, the city may never know.

An effort was made to reach out to the current CEO of Queen Consolidated, Oliver Queen, but his office reported that he had not come in yet this morning. One would think that the CEO of a company would want to get a handle on the situation before more rumors regarding his operations could rise, but that is just one humble journalist's opinion.

. . . . . . . . .

"Humble journalist, my ass," Felicity grumbled, lifting her coffee cup to her lips as she shoved the paper across the counter. It didn't matter what the topic of the article was if Adrian Chase wrote it, it managed to irritate her to no end.

Finishing off the last few sips of her coffee, she placed her empty cup in the sink and glanced up at the clock on her wall. She had about twenty minutes before she was supposed to meet Oliver and John at the bunker. Her mind was still reeling from the information that she had learned overnight.

For the last three years, she had heard rumors of the connection between Oliver Queen and the Green Arrow, but she never believed it. People in this city liked to talk, and as a reporter, she had learned when it was a good idea to tune out the gossip, even when it could eventually turn out to be the truth.

As she thought about it, she realized that she was in the middle of a huge dilemma regarding her career. She was sitting on the verge of the story of the century. The story that could make her career skyrocket through the ranks. She'd be the editor in chief of a major paper before she hit thirty. That story could be the beginning of a very luxurious life for her.

However, at the same time, it could be the very quick end to a blossoming friendship that had begun to form. Not that she could really call it friendship. It was one of those lesser of two evil situations, and Oliver had been forced to make a choice.

A choice that, at this exact moment, he probably regretted because now someone else knew his secret identity. Someone who could ruin him. Someone that worked with the man already set to destroy Oliver's career.

Felicity shook her head and scrubbed her hands over her face. What relationship was she so worried about? She barely knew Oliver. This was insane.

But for some, she couldn't get him out of her head.

. . . . . . . .

"Have you seen this?"

John's voice brought him out of the trance he had been in since walking into the bunker that morning. Last night was basically a disaster. By the time they had gotten to the explosion site, whoever Felicity had been monitoring were gone. Within a matter of moments of their arrival, the press and SCPD arrived on the scene, forcing the two of them to get the hell out of there.

"Seen what?" Oliver sighed, slowly turning to face John and noticed a crumpled up newspaper in his hands. Hanging his head, Oliver took a few steps toward John with his hand extended to him. "Let me see it."

Handing over the paper, John crossed his arms over his chest as he waited for Oliver to read it over. When he found the article had made the front page of the Sentinel, he practically spit his coffee all over the page. He didn't even recall seeing Chase or any other reporters snooping around when they had arrived at the scene last night.

Oliver slammed his fist down on to the table in frustration, dropping the paper in the process. He shoved it across the table, allowing it to fall off and land on the ground. Adrian Chase had something against not only him but the vigilante as well. He needed to talk to Felicity and guarantee that she wasn't going to say anything to her co-workers about what she found out last night.

"Have you talked to our resident reporter yet this morning?" John asked, furrowing his brow.

"No. I came back here after dropping her off at her apartment building last night," Oliver replied, shaking his head as he turned back around to face John, leaning against the table.

"You slept here?"

"Since the explosion took place at a Consolidated warehouse, I knew that my building was going to be surrounded by reporters. I wasn't in the mood to answer any questions."

"So Felicity didn't have any questions for you?"

"If she does, then she didn't ask them last night."

"Oliver, what are you doing with her? You could have led her anywhere yesterday. Why did you bring her to the bunker?"

Oliver exhaled sharply. Somehow he knew this line of questions from John was coming. Especially after he managed to blow most of them off yesterday. If he was honest with himself, he didn't have an answer to the questions that John was posing for him.

Was bringing Felicity, a woman he barely knew and was a news reporter for the Starling City Sentinel, to the bunker a stupid idea? Absolutely. There was no guarantee that she was going to keep his secret. For all he knew last night after he dropped her off, she sat down and wrote an article revealing everything she had seen. In fact, at that very moment, she could be on her way to her boss with the story of the century.

Could he have taken her anywhere else in the city? Yes. He could have lied and taken her back to Queen Consolidated or even his apartment although that may have led to another article from Chase predicting more about his personal life than he needed to see in the papers.

It struck him as odd that there hadn't been an article about his mysterious coffee date yesterday morning prior to the explosion. He shook his head, pushing the thoughts of yet another rumor-filled article flooding the pages of the paper. Maybe Chase was waiting for the evening edition of the paper to share those rumors.

Did he really regret bringing Felicity to the bunker? No. The answer to that question rocked him to his core. Knowing full well that it was a stupid idea, Oliver was happy to have her in the bunker yesterday. She worked wonders with their surveillance systems and hearing her soothing voice in his ear out in the field brought a smile to his face.

"Get it together, Queen," he mumbled to himself, scrubbing his hands over his face. He turned his attention back to John and sighed. "I honestly don't have an answer for any of your questions. Bringing her here was probably the stupidest thing I could have done without taking the time to brief her on what she was going to see."

John opened his mouth to say something but closed it again when Oliver put his finger up in his face.

"But she helped us out last night. It would have taken us twice as long to get the computer working the right way if she weren't here. There's no denying what she was capable of really helped us out."

"What are you going to do if she runs a story about your evening activities?" John asked.

"I don't know," Oliver shouted, tossing his arms up in the air. "All I can do is hope that I get a chance to talk to her before she runs with any story. We're all on the same page about Chase and the articles that he produces, so maybe I can convince her to hold off on anything for a while. At least until Chase finds a new topic."

John scrubbed his hands over his face. "I hope you know what you're doing, Oliver. You know how this town feels about vigilantes, and Thea can't lose you again."

"I know."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **Hey loves, sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out, but grad school and life have been kicking my ass lately. Plus my summer is officially over as I returned back to work last week. Along with work and grad school, I've been running a couple of comps and events for some groups that I run on facebook and it's been keeping me super busy.

Be on the look out soon for a crossover drabble coming from me between HP and Arrow though. It's a Bellatrix Lestrange/Slade Wilson story that I'm super pumped to get written!

If you are interested in following along with my updates for other stories or life in general, join my personal Facebook group: starrnobella Friends & Fans. I'm super active there and on tumblr under the name starrnobella.

Happy reading!

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

_You've reached Felicity Smoak. I can't come to the phone right now. Please leave your name, number, and a brief message after the beep. I will return your call as soon as I'm able to!_

"Felicity, hey. It's Oliver Queen. I was wondering if we'd be able to meet for a drink. I'd like to finish the conversation that got interrupted yesterday. Give me a call back to set up a time and a place. Hope to hear from you soon."

. . . . . . . . .

_You've reached Oliver Queen's cell phone. I can't come to the phone right now. Please leave a brief message with your name and a phone number, and I will get back to you._

"Hey, Oliver! Yes, I'd love to meet up for a drink to finish up that conversation that happened to get cut short. I'm in the office for the rest of the day, but I get off work at five. Give me a call back so we can pick a place. Talk to you soon!"

. . . . . . . . .

_You've reached Felicity Smoak. I can't come to the phone right now. Please leave your name, number, and a brief message after the beep. I will return your call as soon as I'm able to!_

Oliver sighed as he mouthed the words to her voicemail for the umpteenth time that afternoon. They had been playing phone tag for the last three hours trying to set up a drink for this evening. As he waited for the voicemail to beep, he decided to think of a restaurant that was nearby for them to meet at, and his mind was coming up blank.

_Beep!_

"Felicity, it's Oliver. We really need to stop meeting like this. I feel like I'm attached at the hip with your voicemail. How about you text me when you are getting ready to leave? I can swing by and pick you up. There's a place in Central City. I've heard good things about that I thought we could try. Looking forward to your text."

Holding the phone to her ear, Felicity laughed softly to herself as she listened to his message. This weird relationship she had with his answering machine was quickly coming to an end since her day at the office was almost over. She had sat staring at a blank document for the majority of the day.

As she watched cursor flicker on her screen, she sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair. Why was this so difficult? She was sitting on the story of the year. An interview with Queen Consolidated CEO, Oliver Queen. Although, at the moment, she only had the title typed across the screen.

"Get yourself together, Smoak," she grumbled under her breath as she lowered her hands from her head. This was so unlike her. Writer's block was not a term in her usual vocabulary, and right about now she was experiencing her worst bout of it since the start of her journalistic career.

She thought about it for a few minutes longer and sighed as the realization struck her. She was struggling to write this article because she knew that she was sitting on the brink of a groundbreaking story that was bigger than any interview she could get her hands on. So what exactly was holding her back?

She glanced down at the phone, laying on her desk. She knew exactly what it was, honestly, there was part of her that didn't want to write the article that was sitting in the back of her mind. She didn't want to make a career for herself by ruining the lives of other people. She wasn't Chase.

Picking up her phone, she took a deep breath and slid the lock across the screen. Opening the contacts app, she scrolled down until she found his name. It was now or never, but she knew she needed to act quick.

. . . . . . . . .

Oliver glanced down at the clock on his wrist and smiled. Reaching forward, he closed the lid of his laptop and slid back from his desk. It was time to meet with Felicity, and if he was honest, he was nervous about this meeting.

It felt as though they were preparing for a first date, even though there hadn't been any feelings expressed between them. There were butterflies in his stomach every time he thought about her, even though he barely knew her. When they met for coffee the day before, it felt like they were two old friends who were catching up after a long time apart.

Shaking his head, Oliver tried to wipe the goofy grin off his face. He didn't want John's suspicions to be proved correct. Inflating John's ego was not on the top of his agenda for the evening. Speaking with Felicity and finding out what she was planning to do with his secret was the main thing on his mind right now.

Exiting the Queen Consolidated, he jumped in the car that waited for him, and he was off. Only time would tell what the results of their conversation would be. He was prepared to offer her a job with his company as well as the chance to be the sole IT department for his evening job too.

Hopefully, she would see his side of things and accept the luxurious opportunity that he was going to offer him. From their conversations over coffee, it appeared that the two of them had quite a bit in common. Neither one of them had the greatest relationships with their parents, and secrets strained those relationships.

The subtle reminder of his father's secrets flooded his mind with sadness. He missed both of his parents, and he planned to do everything in his power to honor their memories, making certain that their legacy lives on with new meaning.

Taking a deep breath, he leaned back in the seat of the car and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He wanted to let her know that he was on his way to her building and what kind of vehicle to be on the lookout for.

In the time that passed during his commute between Queen Consolidated and the Starling City Sentinel, he allowed his mind to consider the possibilities that awaited him if Felicity accepted his offer for a position at his company. It would certainly raise questions as to why a former reporter was now a lead IT coordinator at one of the largest companies in Starling City. He could picture the headlines in his head that Chase would think up without bothering to pick up the facts.

As the car pulled up to the building, Oliver saw her waiting outside. Sliding across the seat, he opened the door and stepped out of the car. He took a few steps in her direction before she noticed him approaching out of the corner of her eye.

"Oliver!" she called happily, walking over to meet him and pausing in front of him as she reached out to hug him, but spotted his hand extended to her and lowered her arms quickly. She took his hand, shaking it briefly with a smile on her face. "Sorry about that. I'm a hugger. I know that not everyone is, and sometimes that comes across a little much."

"It's alright, Felicity," Oliver said with a laugh. He leaned forward and hugged her quickly before taking a step back. "My mom and my sister are huggers too, so I'm used to it. Ready to go?"

Felicity nodded her head. "Where are we headed?"

Leading her over to the car, Oliver placed a gentle hand on the small of her back as they walked together. A smirk appeared on his face as he thought about a rather clever response to her question but quickly pushed the thoughts aside. Now was not the time for cocky, smartass remarks. There were more important topics on the table for the time being.

"There's a small, quiet coffee bar I happen to frequent just inside the Central City limits," he replied, opening the car door for her. She smiled at him before ducking below the frame and sliding into the backseat. He followed quickly behind her.

"We're headed to Central City? Wow, this is a really serious conversation," Felicity said with a laugh.

Oliver smiled and nodded his head. "Just a bit. We just have a lot to talk about, and I'm sure you'd like to keep your name out of Chase's articles. I can barely go grocery shopping without my name appearing in one of his articles."

"You go grocery shopping?"

"You sound surprised."

Felicity ran a hand through her hair and laughed, turning to face him more directly. "I just thought someone your status would have people to do that for you."

Oliver smirked momentarily and laughed. "When my mother was alive, yes, we had people who did everything for us. From grocery shopping to washing our dirty laundry, but after she died and left Thea and me on our own, it just didn't feel right to keep paying those people to the things we were more than capable of doing on our own. Although I do pay a cleaning service to come in once a week."

"I can understand that. If it were something I could afford, I'd totally have a cleaning service. Although," Felicity said, pausing briefly, "they'd probably take one look at my apartment and quit before the job even began."

"I'm sure it's not that bad," Oliver laughed.

"Trust me; it's a scary place. I'm not even sure how it got to be so bad. If it weren't so terrible, I'd invite you over to han-," Felicity's mouth snapped shut as she realized what exactly she was saying and covered her face with her hands. "I'm sorry. I talk quicker than I think sometimes, and I lack the filter in my brain that tells me to shut up before I make an ass of myself. Which I'm doing again."

Oliver smirked at her. "You aren't making an ass of yourself. Actually, it's kind of cute the way you get flustered."

Her eyes widened at the word, and her cheeks flushed with color as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear nervously. He wasn't hard on the eyes at all, and he had just called her cute. If she weren't interested in making a name for herself as a reporter with her article about him, she wouldn't mind getting to know him on a more intimate level. Maybe after the interview was over, something more could happen if he felt the same way that is.

"Flustered is one way to put it," she replied. "So tell me more about this coffee bar. Did you save the owner from a mugger in the middle of the night?"

"Actually, she saved me from myself," he said, watching as her face went from happy to confused very quickly.

"Oh."

Why did it feel like her heart was breaking in two? It wasn't like they were dating one another. He could date whomever he damn well pleased. They barely knew each other after all. One quick little coffee meeting that was interrupted by an explosion, and her heart was feeling like he needed to reciprocate her feelings.

"Not in a romantic way, if that's what you're thinking," Oliver added. He could see the jealousy growing on her face, and he wanted to make sure that she knew the truth. Why that was, he had no honest idea. John's teasing was probably starting to get to him.

"Oh, okay," Felicity replied, her eyes lightened up once more as her smile returned to her face. "Not that it matters in the slightest what way she saved you."

"I actually met her during the three years that I was away from the city after my father died. I've made a lot of mistakes in my past, but meeting Tatsu was not a mistake. Actually, it was a lesson."

"Wow, it sounds like she really taught you a lot. Will I get to meet her when we get there?"

Oliver nodded with a smile. "Or at least she should be there when we arrive. If not, I'm sure her husband will be there."

"Good to know," she said, nodding her head slowly. "So listen, about yesterday…"

"It was a little crazy, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, just a bit. It was a lot of fun, though. I don't get to do much technical work with the computers at the paper anymore. I've actually missed my days of system hacking."

Oliver cocked his head to the side and raised one eyebrow. "System hacking?"

Felicity smirked. "Wouldn't you love to know the truth about my jaded past."

"Honestly, I would like to know more about you."

She was taken back by his honesty. For the first time in her life, Felicity was speechless. Normally, people weren't so blunt about their feelings regarding the desire to get to know someone's past, especially ones that they had barely gotten the chance to know.

"Well, maybe after all this craziness dies down we can find a way to do that," she replied with a smile beaming brightly from her face.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: ** Here's the next chapter and I apologize for it being so short. Where this chapter ends felt like the right spot to end with what is happening in the next chapter. I need to get back to writing on this story because I'm quickly running out of pre-written chapters.

If you are interested in keeping up with me on social media, search for starrnobella and I should pop up on a few social media sites. A complete list of where I can be found is listed in my profile!

Recently I have opened a group on Facebook called Quills & Arrows which is meant to be a place for fans of Arrow fanfiction to come together and share their works. I would love to have you all join the group and share all of the fanfiction you love containing our beloved Arrow characters. This group is not ship specific so if you aren't a fan of the main ships of the show feel free to search our Fic shop for pairings that you may love. You can also find Quills & Arrows on tumblr as well. I know I'd love to have you all and your friends in the fandom as members! :)

Let me know what you think!

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

**Blondes have more fun, right?**

Adrian Chase

STARLING CITY - Spotted outside the Starling City Sentinel, Oliver Queen was meeting up with a mysterious blonde woman, and the two climbed into the back of one of Queen Consolidated's town cars. The vehicle seemed to be headed out of the city.

Our sources tell us that they were on their way to a business meeting. However, it could very well be that one of Starling City Sentinel's reporters is out to get a bigger story than anyone has been able to get so far. They seem to be looking for the inside report on everything there is to know about Queen.

Although, for all, we really know the mysterious blonde woman has no connection to the Starling City Sentinel. It may have just been a convenient meeting place for the two, however, as well.

Could there be a new woman in the life of Oliver Queen?

Only time will tell. You can be certain that we'll be keeping our eyes peeled to reveal the identity of the mysterious blonde woman.

. . . . . . . . .

"As entertaining as your articles have turned out to be, Adrian, I'm not so sure we can publish any more of them on the front page of the Sentinel," Malcolm said, lowering the papers in his hands away from his face. "We want to remain a source of reliable news."

"Headlines sell papers, Mr. Merlyn," Chase insisted, leaning forward in the chair and resting his elbows on his knees. "Besides what if I could prove to you that all of the information I have reported on is viable?"

With his brow raised, Malcolm looked at his reporter with narrowed eyes. He wasn't sure if Chase could be trusted. The reporter had not proven to be reliable with his sources since his first few days as a reporter, knowingly misprinting a source's name was not a good way to start a career. However, he could prove his sources for these recent articles; it could be beneficial to the paper. "Go on."

"I can't reveal a name yet, but -"

"Let me stop you right there, Chase," Malcolm replied, cutting him off mid-sentence and shaking his head. "Until you can reveal your source's name, you won't see a headline."

"Mr. Merlyn, please. I need those headlines," Chase pleaded, hoping that there would be something he could say that would convince his boss to hear him out.

"And I need those headlines to be reliable news. Now get out of my off and find me something that I can proudly put in my paper," he said, picking up a folder from his desk and began skimming through the article inside.

Chase had a lot to learn if he was planning to make anything of his career. There was a small part of Malcolm that hoped he'd get himself on the right track, but ultimately there was nothing left for Malcolm to do except let him figure it out on his own. Apparently, the training that all the new reporters for the Sentinel went through didn't stick with Chase.

With a heavy sigh, Adrian rose from the chair he was sitting in and made his way out of Malcolm's office back toward his desk. As he went, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and scrolled through his messages until he got to the last message he had received from his "source." It was time for the two to meet, or else Adrian would soon be out of a job it appeared.

"Watch where you're going," a voice called, pulling him out of his thoughts and he looked up from his phone to find Tommy Merlyn standing near him. "You nearly ran me over. Look up from that thing."

"Sorry. I'm a little distracted," he grumbled, slipping the phone back into his pocket. He shook his head and continued away from Tommy, mumbling under his breath a few choice phrases that were best left unheard. He really didn't need to deal with any of this today.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Sorry for the delay in updates for this story, my life has basically gone spiraling out of control as of late and I haven't been able to devote the time I want to work on my fanfiction. That being said, however, I have started working on this story once again so hopefully, the muse will stay with me and I'll be able to get a few more chapters written for you all.

If you are interested in hanging out with me on places other than where you read this story, search my penname on most social media sites and you will find something that you can follow along with!

Let me know what you think!

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

"You've got to be kidding me," Oliver grumbled, looking at his phone in disbelief for a few moments before flipping it face down on the table and sliding it off to the side. He propped his elbows on the table and cradled his face in his hands as he took a deep breath.

"What's wrong?" Felicity asked, reaching for her purse and extracting her phone. Flashing across the top of her screen was a notification, the latest edition of the Sentinel had been released. When she clicked over to the website, she noticed the first headline and closed the browser immediately, and threw her phone back into her purse. "I really hate that guy."

"You aren't alone in those sentiments," Oliver laughed, shaking his head as he lifted it from his hands. "I can't believe someone actually told him that they saw a blonde getting into the limo. You're lucky they didn't recognize you."

"Why do you say that?" she asked, quirking brow as she reached for her coffee cup and lifted it to her lips.

"I just thought that you'd rather have the byline for an article regarding Oliver Queen and not be in the headline," he replied, smiling softly as his eyes met hers over her coffee cup.

Felicity thought about it for a minute as she enjoyed a sip of her coffee, slowly nodding her head as she lowered the cup back to the table. "I mean, that would be the ideal situation, but I definitely wouldn't mind sharing the headlines with you."

As the words left her lips, her mind finally registered the exact words that had just come out of her mouth. Her jaw dropped as she covered her face with her hands as she spoke. She could feel her cheeks flushing with color. One day she'd figure out how to stop her mouth from speaking before her mind had a chance to figure out what she was going to say.

After a few moments of self-loathing, Felicity peeked at Oliver between her fingers that were still covering her face and noticed him sitting there smiling. She wasn't sure whether she should be upset with him for smiling at her embarrassment or happy at the fact that he seemed to look past her incoherent babbling of an apology and making an idiot of herself.

Finally, she lowered her hands from her face and took a deep breath. One of these days, she'd get over the intense case of the babbles she caught every time she interacted with someone she felt even remotely attracted to. This whole going red in the face thing was getting old quick, and she'd give anything to make it stop.

"I can't believe you're laughing at me," she said calmly, shaking her head as she laid her arms on the table. She was trying her best to be disappointed in him, but she knew in all reality that she couldn't be upset with him. She would have acted in much a similar way had the situation been reversed.

"You can't? I thought that out of everyone here; you'd be the only one that understood why I was laughing," Oliver replied, fighting the urge to chuckle at her frustration. "This isn't exactly the first time that you've been so flustered around me that you've caught a case of the babbling mouth."

Felicity opened and closed her mouth a few times as she thought about her response and started to speak after a few moments only to cut herself off again. He wasn't wrong. She was always putting her foot in her mouth and saying things that she didn't need to be saying or saying something completely inappropriate, but why did it matter now? It was something she had been doing her entire life. Why was she embarrassed for being so flustered in front of Oliver Queen? As soon as the question passed her mind, the answer started flashing in her mind like a bright neon sign.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," she mumbled, hanging her head forward as she brought her fingers to her temples. Slowly she started rubbing small circles as she pushed aside the realization she had just made. Now was not exactly the time to tell the man she had been finally able to get an interview with that she was starting to think of him in more romantic ways.

This was going to be a long evening, especially with Chase coming after her in his articles. They needed to come up with a game plan.

"Felicity," Oliver said softly, reaching his hand across the table and placing it on hers as it sat there. He watched as she tilted her head up slightly to look up at him under her brow. She looked upset, but he wasn't sure why. "Are you mad at me?"

She shook her head. There was no telling what words would come out of her mouth if she tried to say something right now. Non-verbal cues were the way to go at the moment. If she admitted anything more to him right now, all she would be doing was setting Adrian Chase up with more ammunition for his stupid tabloid articles. She hated seeing his name in the bylines, but what she hated, even more, was seeing her name mentioned in the headlines. He was making money off of torturing her.

"Then who are you mad at?" Oliver asked, observing her. He didn't know what was wrong. They had joked about her rambling abilities before, so why was now any different? Nothing out of the ordinary had been said. It must have been a thought that had crossed through her mind. One that she probably wasn't ready to talk about just yet. There was no denying that he could relate to that. Ever since the two of them had met for coffee that first day, his mind flooded with thoughts, he wasn't quite ready to talk about yet. Someday soon, however, they would have to talk about everything.

"I'm upset with myself," she finally whispered after what seemed like an eternity of silence. "I talk to people all the time and run interviews with hundreds of people. Some of them are even way more attractive than you are, and I don't flounder over my words, but the second I have to sit down and talk with you, I become this childish little school girl. It doesn't make any sense."

"Yes, but personally I think it's adorable how flustered you get when you're talking to me. I've noticed it happening a lot, and then your face flushes to this bright shade of red. You nervously tuck a few strands of hair behind your ears, and you adjust your glasses five or six times," Oliver replied, squeezing her hand gently before bulling it back across the table to rest in his lap. "I'm actually quite flattered that you get flustered talking to me. If you didn't, I'm not entirely sure what I'd think."

"Why is that?" she asked, fidgeting with the ends of her hair nervously as she waited for his answer. She was still in shock at everything he had admitted in that short sentence and just how closely he paid attention to her when she was talking to him. Most men wouldn't even have noticed the color that her cheeks turned when she embarrassed or what actions she does when she is. As she thought about it for a few brief moments, she realized that none of the previous men she had felt interested in would have noticed the pale pink color that graced her cheeks when she was embarrassed.

Oliver looked at her and smiled, quirking his brow slightly as he chuckled. "That's a story for another time. A time after Chase's short-lived career has come to an end."

"Short-lived? He appears to be at the top of his game right now, and nothing is stopping him," Felicity replied.

"Just trust me on this one," he replied. "I've seen enough tabloid reporters careers start and come to an abrupt end. Once the rumor mill they were working at runs dry, they really don't have much of a career waiting behind them."

"What if they move onto another mill?"

"In my experience, there's never one that hasn't been tapped by a new up and coming reporter."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** Here is the next installment for this adventure. I apologize for the delay in updates. It's that crazy time of the year where I'm lucky to know what day it is when I get up in the morning because I feel as though I'm running all over the place and never getting the chance to sit down.

Hopefully you enjoy this look into Slade's part of this adventure and fingers crossed I'll be able to get the next chapter out soon!

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

"What the hell do you mean you lost them?" Slade screamed, turning slowly on his heel back in the direction of the incompetent lackeys who had managed to find their way back to the bunker. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why they would bother to come back at all when the pair of them that were holding the prize from their search had apparently disappeared off the face of the earth.

"We rounded a corner," one of them started to say, only to shut their mouth quickly after being elbowed in the side by one of his partners. He turned to face him and narrowed his eyes at him. The partner looked back at him, eyes wide with panic. Arguing with Slade or even trying to explain what was going on would just make things worse.

"I don't want to hear your excuses," Slade hissed. "Because that's all I'm hearing coming out of your mouth right now. An entire mission is wasted if those two don't return in the next hour."

Slade carded a hand through his hair and scrubbed it over his face. How the fuck did they manage to mess this up? The entire mission was spelled out from point a to point b before they had even left the bunker in search of their prize.

It was simple. Enter the warehouse on Slade's signal. Shoot anyone who wasn't wearing the same color that their team was wearing. Find the Vertigo and get the hell out of there and back to the bunker.

Slade was planning to take care of the Vertigo for mirakuru exchange at a later time. His team didn't need to know the final details of his plan for the drug. All they cared about was getting paid. The mirakuru was a secret just for him, and if he had any chance in hell to defeat Oliver Queen, then he was going to need all of the secrets he could get. Although, with the damage that Chase had been putting on his reputation, Oliver might have started to crack sooner rather than later. Or at least he was going to reveal a few more secrets that would lend in his defeat.

The pretty blonde he had been pictured with may have been his new Achilles heel. Either her or his sister, Thea. Since Moira's untimely death, Oliver had never been the same, and that made Slade smile. It was the first time he had ever seen Oliver crack. Slade smiled, thinking back to the memory of blowing Moira's brains out. He'd do it again in a heartbeat if ever given a chance, but with the pretty blonde, it might be more fun to slit her neck with a sharp blade.

A shiver ran down his spine as he thought about all the ways he could possibly torture her, but first, he needed to figure out what exactly she meant to Oliver. If she was just some flimsy floozy, there was no point in chasing after her. He wouldn't care what happened to her. Sure, he would mourn her death, but it wouldn't affect him in the same way that it would if she meant more to him.

He needed to reach out to Chase and see what he could find out. Having a reporter for the Sentinel in his pocket was proving to be very beneficial in the long game against Queen. Part of the reason for having Chase in his position was to keep Slade's names out of the papers. The longer he could keep Oliver out of the loop of his plans, the better it would be.

"Find Chase and tell him I want a word with him," Slade barked, storming away from the morons in the direction of his office. He needed to take some time to think and hope that the fools with the Vertigo showed up soon. When he closed the door to his office, he walked over to the safe and unlocked it, tossing the door back and reaching inside. He slowly pulled out the last of his stash of mirakuru out and rolled the vials around in his hand.

This wasn't going to last him long. He could feel his energy and power draining. All his body seemed to want to do was sleep, but he knew that wasn't an option right now. He had too much to do, but the same thing always seemed to happen after a mission. He needed to dose up almost immediately, but it usually didn't matter. Normally, he could use the last of his supply, and he'd be able to schedule an exchange of goods within hours of the end of the mission.

Cursing under his breath, he rolled the vials between his fingers momentarily before selecting a vial and picking it up to set it aside. He placed the other two vials that remained back into the vault and locked it quickly. He didn't need wondering eyes looking around the office, not that any of them should have been in here when they were out. He didn't even call people in here to meet with them when they had fucked up on a mission. He usually just shot them on the spot in front of everyone else. That way, no one else dared to make the same mistakes.

He walked over to his desk and opened the top drawer of the desk. He found a syringe and extracted it. Slamming the sharp end through the seal at the top of the vial, he pulled back on the plunger and watched as the liquid filled the syringe. The sweet, sweet miracle liquid that was housed inside was exactly what he needed. It was only a matter of time until things returned to normal.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:** I'm back with the next installment of this Olicity series. I've gotten a few chapters prewritten since NaNo, so I'll be able to update this piece again in the very near future.

I've been pretty active on social media lately, so if you're interested in hanging out with me outside of checking out my updates just search up starrnobella and you'll be able to find all sorts of place to hang out with me!

Let me know what you think!

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

Felicity looked at herself in the mirror and took a deep breath. She had decided that someone needed to say something to Malcolm about Adrian's bullshit, and it needed to be said soon. Things were starting to get out of hand, and it wasn't even that her name had begun to appear in the articles, but she was sure that was all that Malcolm would see it as. At least at first. She had plans to get him to see the error in his way of publishing these articles.

Oliver wasn't entirely sold on her plan, but he had told her that he wasn't going to stand in her way of doing what she planned to do. She knew that things were going to get messy and that she was risking her job to tell him what exactly she thought of his little "star" reporter, but she didn't care about that right now. All she cared about was getting her name out of the damned headlines.

"You can do this, Smoak," she whispered to herself, adjusting her ponytail and pushing her glasses back up on her nose. She took one last look in the mirror in her office before pulling her office door open and making her way down the hall. She was only a few doors away from Malcolm's office, and the last time she checked, he had an open-door policy when it came to discussing ways to make the paper better.

She had her eyes on the prize and marched her way full speed down the hallway toward Malcolm's office. She didn't pay attention to anything that was going on around her. It wasn't until she just stepped in front of the office door and she froze in her tracks. All of the words that had been floating around in her head that she wanted to tell Malcolm flew out of her head and were nowhere to be found.

"Where's the fire, Smoak?" Tommy laughed, tapping her on the shoulder.

Slowly she turned on her heels and exhaled sharply as she met his eyes. She crossed her arms over her chest and took yet another deep breath. "There is no fire, or if there is, I'm not going to be the one dealing with it. If you need me, I'll be in my office."

"But you just left your office and headed this way," Tommy replied, furrowing his brow and crossing his arms over his chest. "What's going on, Felicity? You're acting weird."

"Nothing's going on, I'm just a chicken," she said, pushing past him and making a mad dash back to her office. Once she was safely inside, she pushed the door closed behind her and sauntered over to her desk, taking a seat and resting her head in her hands and elbows on the surface.

"Spill, Smoak," a voice called to her from her doorway.

Glancing up through her fingers, she found Tommy standing in her open door. "Didn't I shut that?"

Tommy laughed and pushed the door closed behind him as he took a step into her office. "You did, but something's going on, and I'm going to figure out exactly what it is." He picked up one of the chairs in front of her desk and flipped it around before taking a seat. "So, you can either tell me what's bothering you now, or I can sit here until you are annoyed enough with my presence that you tell me what's on your mind."

She looked at him for a few moments and contemplated her choices. She could parade her personal life around the office and hope that her colleagues would continue to take her seriously as a reporter, or she could keep her mouth shut and wait for Chase to reveal her name in an article. Neither was sounding like a good option.

She sighed and hung her head, covering her face with her hands as she mumbled through them. "You know Chase's last article?"

Tommy thought about it for a moment and nodded his head. "What about it?"

"Meet the blonde who has more fun," Felicity said, looking up at him through her fingertips. She grimaced as she waited for him to respond. To be honest with herself, she was waiting for him to tell her that she was jeopardizing her article's integrity by getting close to him.

"Well, that's one way to guarantee an interview with the man," Tommy replied, tossing his head back with a laugh. "Are you sure you know what you're doing, Smoak?"

Shaking her head, Felicity tossed her arms up in the are before collapsing them back down against the table. "I have no idea what I'm doing. It started out with phone tag, which eventually led to coffee to discuss the possibility of the interview, but then that got interrupted. Then it was more phone tag, and then we met a second time, but after that, this stupid article came out. Now I don't know what to do."

Tommy nodded his head slowly, contemplating his next remark because he could tell she was flustered, and he wanted to help out his friend. "Maybe you should set the interview aside until Chase finds a new target for his headline."

Felicity shook her head and pressed her lips into a firm line. "Nope. There's no way I'm pushing this once in a lifetime interview aside because of some idiot with a pen who thinks he's at the top of his game. I have a feeling that his career is going to be short-lived."

Furrowing his brow, Tommy looked at her with a puzzled expression on his face. "What makes you think that? He's had how many headlines in the past month and a half alone?"

"The mill he's getting information from will run dry soon," Felicity said with a shrug. "It was a piece of wise advice someone gave me the other day."

"Does that someone happen to have icy blue eyes and happen to be the billionaire Playboy of Star City?" Tommy asked.

Felicity put her fingers to her lips and pulled them across like a zipper, leaving a smile behind her fingers. She winked at Tommy as she reached for the stack of files that were sitting on the corner of her desk and started flipping through a few of them.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Smoak. I don't want to have to come to save your ass when you get yourself in too deep," Tommy said, pushing himself up from the chair and making his way toward the door.

"I'm not worried about that," Felicity replied with a wink. "I'll see ya later, Merlyn. Close the door behind you on your way out."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:** Here's the next chapter. Sorry for its shortness, but the next chapter will be out soon!

I've been pretty active on social media lately, so if you're interested in hanging out with me outside of checking out my updates just search up starrnobella and you'll be able to find all sorts of place to hang out with me!

Let me know what you think!

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

Felicity stood at the door to the editor's office and took a deep breath. She knew that she was doing the right thing, but there was a pit in the base of her stomach that she just couldn't shake. This was the last place she ever wanted to be because if this conversation didn't play out in her favor, then it would be her ass on the way out the door searching for a new job at the end of the day rather than Adrian Chase.

Maybe she should just drop it until she dug up some truth. But at the same time, someone needed to say something before the readers of the Sentinel started thinking that everything printed with Chase's name was accurate. Although they probably already assumed that since it had been months since someone else's name was written in the by-lines for the front page of the paper.

She shook her head and pushed the thoughts aside as she reached up and knocked gently on the door. She waited a few moments for a response but was met with silence. Furrowing her brow, Felicity reached up and wrapped her knuckles against the door once more. Again, she was met with silence.

She slowly turned on her heel and walked back to her office, mumbling under her breath as she went and shaking her head in disgust. The one time she actually gathered up the nerve to talk to him, and he wasn't in his damn office. That was just her luck.

The argument in her head continued as she continued down the hall toward her office. Distracted by her thoughts, Felicity didn't notice the person standing in her doorway. Reaching forward to open her door, her hand was grabbed by another. "What the hell?"

"Hello, Smoak," Adrian replied, a smirk pulling at the corners of his lips. "Can we talk?"

"What do you want, Chase?" Felicity hissed, furrowing her brow as she crossed her arms over her chest. He was the last person that she wanted to see today, especially after the latest headline.

"I just wanted to ask you a few questions," Chase replied calmly, leaning back against her door. "Should only take a minute or two of your time."

"I don't have a minute or two, so if you'll kindly get out of my way," Felicity said. She attempted not to roll her eyes at his insistence, but she really didn't have time to deal with him right now.

Adrian opened his mouth to protest but realized that it wouldn't do him any good. If he really wanted to know what she was up to in her free time, it would do him best just to follow her rather than ask her directly. It was undeniable that she didn't trust him.

He took a significant step away from her door and hung his head. "Sorry to bother you. I'll let you get back to your jam-packed afternoon."

"Thanks," she replied, reaching forward to open her office door. Once she was safe on the other side of a locked door, Felicity would be able to reach out to Oliver. Chase's behavior was getting very suspicious. He never just wanted to talk to her. Something was definitely going on with him.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N:** Here's a look at what's going on inside the bunker as Chase is running wild with his articles in Star City!

Let me know what you think!

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

"Do we know anything about Adrian Chase?" Oliver asked John as he hung his bow up in the display case and undid the front of his suit.

John shook his head. "I did a little digging when he started running articles about the Queen family, but he must have his records fairly well locked away because I couldn't find much when I was trying to. Once Deathstroke showed back up in town, I figured that taking down Chase was the least of our concerns."

"You're right," Oliver sighed, hanging his head. "Slade needs to be our number one priority right now. But for some reason, I can't Chase out of my head."

"Might that be because of a particular blonde that you've been spending an extraordinary amount of time with lately?" John asked, chuckling as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Oliver rolled his eyes. "It has nothing to do with Felicity."

"Whatever you have to tell yourself at the end of the day," John replied.

"So, what do we know about the last of Slade's whereabouts?" Oliver asked, forcing the line of conversation to leave his non-relationship with Felicity alone for the time being. Once they had Slade, then maybe they could talk more about the spark, he felt every time he thought about her.

"That warehouse that you tracked him to the other night is his other bunker."

Felicity's voice caught them both off guard and forced them to spin around and see her standing behind them. John opened his mouth to ask how she got in but was quickly cut off by her.

"You guys have great security measures on this place, but they aren't any match of an MIT student who specialized in hacking. Plus, I've got a great memory, so even only being there on the night of the explosion, I knew exactly where to go," Felicity replied with a shrug. "As for Chase, there's not much to know about him. You aren't the only people who have gone looking into his past and come up empty."

"How long were you standing there before you said anything?" Oliver asked, furrowing his brow as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Long enough," she replied, winking at Oliver and then turning her attention back to John, who happened to be standing in front of the computer that she needed to gain access to. "Can you move just a smidge to your left? I need the computer your standing in front of."

John looked at her for a moment and then looked up at Oliver, who shrugged. "I think it's easier if you just do what she asks. Apparently, there's more to Ms. Smoak than either of us were aware of."

John nodded his head slowly and took a step to the side. "Apparently there is." He made a mental note to do some digging into her past. That comment about being a hacker during her time at MIT made him slightly nervous about what exactly she was capable of with a computer.

"Call me Felicity," she said, glancing back at the two of them over her shoulder momentarily as she continued typing something into the computer. "Because we were able to get so close to that warehouse the other night, I was able to go back in through the coms server and place a trace for any activity at that location. This way, we'll know when Slade or his henchmen are there or not there. It all depends on how you want to use the information we get from the trace.

"Right now, I'm setting up the computer to send a signal to your phones, letting you know when there is heavy activity going on at the warehouse. It's already programmed to my tablet, so I can be here to help if you need me to be that little voice inside your heads."

"Won't that interfere with your job at the paper?" Oliver asked.

Felicity shook her head rapidly. "Nope. All I have to do is say that I have a lead for a story, and no one asks where I'm head or what I'm out to do. It's a great part about technology."

Oliver and John shared a look before nodding their heads as though they understood, even though they really had no idea what she was talking about in regards to the trace that she was setting up. They walked up to where Felicity was sitting and looked at the screen as she typed in the necessary code to run her program.

"Once this is up and going, it will make it easier to divide our focus between Deathstroke and where Chase is getting his tidbits that he's turning in to front-page articles," Felicity replied without looking up from the screen. "I think he knows I've been spending a lot of time around Oliver lately."

"Why's that?" Oliver asked, leaning up against the side of the desk and crossing his arms over his chest as his brow furrowed in disgust with Chase and his ridiculous articles.

"He cornered me at my office before I left to come here," Felicity said, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. "His exact words were something like 'I only need a minute or two of your time to ask you a few questions.' I told him I didn't have a minute or two, and he got out of my way."

"Are you sure he didn't follow you after you blew him off?" John asked, placing a hand on the computer desk.

"When I left the office, he was heading into a meeting with our Chief Editor," Felicity replied, gritting her teeth momentarily. "I was trying to get a meeting with Mr. Merlyn, but of course, he wasn't available when I was trying to meet with him."

"Do I sense a bit of jealousy?" Oliver asked, laughing softly to himself as he smiled at Felicity when she turned to him with a glare on her face.

"I will never be jealous of that piece of scum," she hissed, sticking her tongue out at him momentarily.

Oliver winked at her, which caused her to roll her eyes.

"Now is not the time to be cute, Queen," she grumbled, turning her attention back to the computer screen.

"Should I leave the two of you alone?" John asked, chuckling softly to himself when he noticed the glares that each of them directed at him. He put his hands up in the air and took a step back from Felicity, just in case she decided to smack him for his next comment. "It was just an observation. The vibe in the room just got flirty for a moment there."

"Let's focus on tracing Slade," Oliver interjected, placing a gentle hand on Felicity's shoulder to pull her attention away from shooting death glares at John and back to the more pressing matter at hand.


	17. Chapter 17

Chase trembled as he sat on a chair in the middle of the dark room that he had been forced into. As he looked to either side of his body, he saw an armed man standing next to him with a hand on their visible weapon and if he had to guess they each had at least one more weapon that he couldn't see. He knew who had summoned him, but he wasn't sure why.

He hadn't reached out for any more information because Malcolm refused to publish any more of his articles unless Chase came forward with a source. He was hoping to find a way around that before having to bring it up to his source.

Nervously he rapped his fingers against the sides of the chair. All he could do was sit there in silence like an idiot because he had no idea what Slade wanted with him. Typically Slade was the one feeding him information, not the other way around, so he hoped that he wasn't expecting any.

A burst of cold air rushed into the room, and the two men standing on either side of Chase walked away, leaving him alone in the dark. The thud of footsteps coming up behind him made him shiver in anticipation. A rough hand crashed into his shoulder as Slade made himself visible out of the corner of Chase's eye.

"Hello, Chase," Slade growled. "Long time, no see."

Adrian's eyes widened as Slade walked around in front of him, and he felt his heart start to race. The panic was beginning to kick in, and he felt his throat dry up. He started coughing and pulled at the binds that held him against the chair.

"Calm down," Slade grumbled, grabbing a chair from the table and slamming it down in front of Chase. "All you are going to do is add bruises to your wrists, and I'm sure you don't want to try and come up with a way to explain those away at work now, do you?"

Chase shook his head furiously. He watched as Slade eyed him up and down slowly. He wasn't sure what was going through the man's mind and the fact that this could be his last moments on Earth if Slade decided that was his fate.

"You know, it's considered polite to at least say hello when someone comes into the room," Slade said, tossing his head back with a laugh.

"Hello, Slade," Chase said, taking a deep breath as he waited for Slade's next move or question. He knew that no matter what he did, this could end with him in a body bag if he wasn't careful. Every question that Slade asked him had a reason, and usually, Slade already knew the answer before asking the question.

"What happened to the articles? I've noticed that you haven't appeared in the headlines nearly as often lately," Slade asked, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning forward on the chair.

"My editor wants a name for my source," Chase mumbled, looking down at the empty space in front of him. "Since I'm sure you don't want your name to appear in the paper, I wasn't sure what to tell him. So I haven't been pushing to get anything published."

"What happened to confidential sources?" Slade asked, furrowing his brow. "The last I checked, keeping a confidential source was still a legal way to make a report."

"A report, yes," Chase said, shrugging his shoulders as he glanced up at Slade. "It would appear that The Sentinel wants to be a reputable source of news and information for the people of Star City."

"Then I suggest you come up with a way to get your name back on the front page with articles destroying Oliver Queen's reputation, or your family will find your name listed in the obituaries."

Slade got up from the chair and threw it back under the table. He stormed away from Chase and slammed the door behind him as he went, leaving Chase alone. He needed to come up with a plan to stop using the middleman to get to Queen. Chase's usefulness was running thin. It was time for a change.

. . . . . . . .

Collapsing on her bed, Felicity let out a heavy sigh. She glanced at the alarm clock on her nightstand and sighed when she realized that she was going to have to be up for work in only a few short hours. This double job life was not going to cut it. If she wanted to keep living this double life, she was going to need to do something about the lack of sleep she was getting.

She grabbed her phone off the nightstand and sent a message off to her boss. A little white lie about having to be on location for an interview never hurt anyone. It would give her a chance to get a tad more sleep than what was predicted. Upon the receipt of the a-okay from her boss, Felicity smiled to herself and placed the device back on the nightstand. Rolling onto her side, Felicity snuggled into the pillow and closed her eyes.

"Hello, Felicity Smoak. I believe it's about time we meet."

Felicity's eyes snapped open, and she jolted straight up in bed, looking around her bedroom in a panic. As she turned her head to the window, she saw a shadow figure moving closer, but the curtain still covered their face.

"Who are you, and how the hell did you get into my apartment?" Felicity asked, slowly reaching for her phone and sliding it onto the bed.

"You'll learn who I am soon enough," the figure said, moving closer to her bed. His face was revealed, but Felicity had no idea who it was.

Before he reached the bed, Felicity opened her contacts and scrolled to Oliver's name quickly. She pressed his number and allowed the phone to start ringing. As long as he could hear what was happening here, then she might make it out of this alive.

"Who are you?" she demanded, tossing the bedsheet over the phone so that he couldn't see it lying there.

"Hello?" Oliver's voice said through the phone.

"I told you, you'll learn who I am soon enough. Now I'm going to give you a choice. You can come with me willingly, or we can do this the hard way," the figure said, pulling a knife out of his pocket and flashing it in Felicity's direction. "So Ms. Smoak, which is it going to be?"

"Felicity, what's going on?" Oliver's voice shouted through the phone.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Felicity growled. "Especially if you don't tell me who the hell you are and how you got into my apartment."

"Hard way it is," he growled, lunging toward her on the bed and wrapping an arm around her waist and hoisting her in the air.

"Oliver!"

"Oliver Queen can't help you now," he hissed, stalking away from the bed and toward the window. "He'll have to schedule a visit with an old friend if he wants to save you. You better hurry, kid, before I do to her what I did to your mother."


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N:** Hello loves! I'm back with the next chapter of this adventure. I have not started writing the chapter that comes after this, but it is on my list of things to do as I work through stories with impending due dates.

I know I left us on a bit of a cliff hanger, and it doesn't really get much better here. However, I do hope you enjoy this next installment.

Follow me on social media if you're interested in keeping up with my life in general! My penname will lead the way.

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

"Son of a bitch!" Oliver shouted, throwing the phone across the bunker. How in the hell did Slade find out about his connection to Felicity? Other than the one meeting for coffee that they had in Star City, John was the only other person who had seen the two of them together. All of their other encounters took place in Central City, and the only thing people would have seen was Felicity climbing into the back of a limo. With her being known as a reporter, that limo could have belonged to anyone, and Felicity was just being taken to a meeting.

What was he going to do now? There was no way that Slade was still in her apartment, and it was almost a guarantee that he wasn't going back to the warehouse that they had bugged earlier this week. There was no way for him to know Slade's next move.

This was why he never agreed to do interviews with anyone. He didn't want anyone to get hurt because of him. Losing his mother and almost losing his sister was pure torture, and Slade knew it. Slade had seen the pain in Oliver's eyes when he was forced to choose between the two. Why hadn't he killed Slade then? Maybe if he had, Moira would have still been alive, and Thea wouldn't blame him for her death.

He couldn't be the reason that Felicity ended up dead too. He had no choice but to save her. However, he was currently waiting for John to return to the bunker. He had sent an emergency page, but unless John felt his phone go off in his pocket, he would have no idea that Oliver was trying to get a hold of him.

Oliver looked at the computer screens in the middle of the bunker. Maybe if he was able to think like Felicity, he might be able to find her using the technology that she had introduced to the bunker since her first time here.

"She's going to kill you if she sees you messing with her computers," John teased, walking into the bunker and noticing Oliver sitting at the desk in the middle of the room. He could see that something was bothering him, but he had no idea what it was. All he knew was that he had gotten an emergency page from Felicity saying he needed to get back to the bunker as soon as possible.

"She can't kill me if Slade kills her first," Oliver grumbled, looking back over his shoulder as he watched John quicken his pace across the bunker to the desk. Oliver's comment was enough to light a fire under his ass to get back to work.

"What do you mean if Slade kills her first? I got a page from her saying I needed to get back to the bunker," John said, stopping behind the chair that Oliver was sitting in and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I sent that," Oliver replied. "It was one of the few things that I could remember Felicity teaching me how to do. I thought she was calling me to set up a meeting for tomorrow."

Oliver spun around in his chair to look at John. The concern he had for Felicity's safety was painted all over his face. His brain was working a mile a minute in an attempt to figure out how Slade had gotten a hold of her or even knew who she was. Every possible outcome of this situation, he could think of was negative. There was only one option that he could think of that gave Felicity the chance to make it out of this alive.

He had to give Slade what he wanted.

The chance to kill him.

However, there wasn't a chance in hell of that happening. Oliver wasn't about to go into this kind of a situation unprepared. He knew exactly who he needed to call.

"We need to gather a team," Oliver said, looking up at John with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Okay, I'll call Lyla. What's going on, Oliver?" John asked, reaching for his phone out of his back pocket. "For her to send a team, she's going to need a little more details other than Slade killing Felicity and you sending out a page about getting to the bunker."

Oliver hung his head and sighed. John was right, Lyla would need more information if they were going to get Argus involved, even if she knew that he would never ask them for help if it wasn't entirely necessary.

"Felicity called me earlier this evening, but it wasn't our normal call during the week," Oliver began to explain. He rolled his eyes when he saw John's eyes and face lit up at the idea of their standard calls during the week. " She didn't answer when I said hello, but I could hear her, and I could hear Slade. He broke into her apartment."

"What does he want with her? How does Slade even know who she is?" John asked, furrowing his brow as he flipped his phone open and dialed Lyla's number.

"I have no idea," Oliver replied. "That's what I've been sitting here trying to figure out since I sent the page out. I'm going to go over to her apartment to look for clues."

"You aren't going by yourself," John grumbled, tilting the phone away from his mouth as it rang. "Wait until Argus can get there. What if Slade is there waiting for you, and the call was a trap?"

"I heard the panic in her voice!" Oliver shouted, jumping up out of the chair and walking over to his suit. "I can't just sit here and do absolutely nothing, waiting for Argus to show up. By the time they get here, she could be dead. I can't be responsible for her death because I chose to sit around and do nothing. She doesn't deserve that."

"And what good will you be if you get killed before you can save Felicity?" John hissed, glaring at his best friend. "Lyla, we have a situation."

Oliver rolled his eyes as he watched John walk away from him, explaining the situation to whoever he was able to get on the phone. He reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out, flipping it open and scrolling down to Slade's contact in his phone.

The only way to guarantee Felicity's safety was for Oliver to make a deal with Slade. Or at least schedule a meeting with him, since that was what he had said he wanted earlier. Oliver just needed to figure out where would be the best place to meet because there was no way they were going to meet on Slade's terms. It needed to be neutral ground if this was going to happen.

None of them actually knew what improvements Slade had made to that warehouse, and Oliver wasn't in the mood to figure it out when someone's life was on the line. When they had placed the heat sensors on the warehouse, they didn't take the time to explore because they didn't know how much time they would have before Slade's return.

"What are you doing?"

John's voice caught him off guard, and Oliver slowly turned around and closed his phone before slipping it back into his pocket. Oliver looked at him and shrugged. "I thought I felt the phone vibrating. It turns out it wasn't."

"You're lying," John replied, reaching for the hand in Oliver's pocket, holding his phone. "I saw Slade's name on your phone screen. You were about to call him and schedule a meet, weren't you?"

"I have to do something," Oliver insisted.

"And we will," John assured him, "once Argus gets here."


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N:** Hello loves! I'm back with the next chapter of this adventure. I have not started writing the chapter that comes after this, but it is on my list of things to do as I work through stories with impending due dates. This summer is a bit cray cray with all the pieces I have do!

I know I left us on a bit of a cliff hanger, and it doesn't really get much better here. However, I do hope you enjoy this next installment.

Follow me on social media if you're interested in keeping up with my life in general! My penname will lead the way.

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

Her eyes blinked rapidly as they adjusted to the light now that he had removed her blindfold. She wasn't sure where he had taken her. All she could hope is that the trackers she had installed on her phone, as well as Oliver and John, had started sending signals to the bunker that she was moving.

When she had called him from the apartment, he could hear Oliver calling to her, but for her own safety, she couldn't react. He had to believe they were the only two people in that room. If he knew she had called him, then she was certain that he would have killed her on the spot.

She and Oliver had been so careful to hide their meetings from the general public and the fact that she was working with the Green Arrow. The continuous thought that was running through her mind was trying to figure out how the hell Slade had managed to find her and break into her apartment.

She was just a simple reporter for the Star City Sentinel, who could barely get her name in the headlines. What could Slade possibly want from her? Or at least that was how she was going to play this off when Slade came back to interrogate her if he came back.

By the look of the two men standing on either side of the door to the cell, Felicity had a feeling that she was going to be left alone in here with just the two of them for a while. She could still feel her cell phone shoved in her pocket, which was encouraging in case her bodyguards ever left, although she had a sneaking suspicion that that would never be the case.

"Oliver will figure out where I am, and nothing is going to happen to me," she whispered to herself, slouching down on the pillows beneath her on the cot. It wasn't the most comfortable of places to lay down, but it was the best of her options right now.

. . . . . . . . .

Oliver rolled his eyes for what felt like the millionth time this evening since Felicity's phone call. He had her location from the tracking device on her phone, but John wouldn't let him leave the bunker without a plan. He couldn't care less about some damn plan. All he wanted to do was get Felicity home safe and sound.

She was innocent in all of this. Slade's issue was him and no one else. No one else was allowed to die fighting in this war between Oliver and Slade. Regardless of what Slade believed, no one else should be shedding blood for a fight that they weren't involved in.

In fact, if anyone should have to shed blood for this war, it should be Adrian Chase. If it weren't for his damn articles, Slade wouldn't have even known about Felicity. Oliver had done everything in his power to keep the women in his life out of the spotlight after his mother's death. He didn't need to give Slade any other names to add to his revenge list. His mother's death was one too many.

Glancing at John out of the corner of his eye, Oliver exhaled sharply as his arms dropped to his side. He was sick of waiting around doing nothing. Someone had to go out there and save Felicity, and obviously, her safety wasn't at the top of A.R.G.U.S.'s list.

He walked over to his Green Arrow suit and started pulling items off the mannequin. He made quick work of suiting up before grabbing his bow.

"Where do you think you're going?" John's voice called to him from across the bunker.

"To smash a few skulls and get some answers," Oliver grumbled, attaching his bow to the back of his suit. "I'm done waiting for A.R.G.U.S.

"They'll be here any minute," John retorted. "You are not going out there by yourself."

"Are you going to stop me?" Oliver asked, squaring up to John with his arms at his hips. "I've never had issues getting past you before when I put my mind to it. Standing here waiting isn't going to save Felicity, especially since I already have her location."

"And you'll be walking straight into Slade's trap, Oliver," John chastised. "You'll get yourself killed if you go in by yourself."

"Better me than her," Oliver growled, pushing past John to make his way to the elevator.

"How do you think Felicity will feel if you go in there and die trying to save her by yourself?" John remarked, turning slowly to watch Oliver stop in his tracks just in front of the elevator doors. "Do you want to break her heart like that? I've seen how she looks at you when you aren't looking. And I've seen how you look at her."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Oliver hissed. He fought the urge he felt to roll his eyes. John was just seeing things and making assumptions. He didn't know a damn thing. Just as he opened his mouth to spout off a smart remark about making assumptions, the elevator doors open revealing Lyla and a few members of her team.

"Oliver," she said calmly, nodding her head. She walked up to the computer desk in the middle of the bunker and looked down at the screens. Taking note of what she saw, Lyla leaned back against the desk and crossed her arms as she waited for John and Oliver to approach. "So, what do we know?"

"Slade Wilson, also known as Deathstroke, has been responsible for some of the explosions and robberies around the city lately," John said, standing beside Lyla and leaning against the desk. "We were able to track him to an abandoned warehouse a few nights ago, but we got there too late."

"Felicity had been tracking his movements with a program on the computer, but that's not why we called you in," Oliver interjected. "Slade broke into her apartment and kidnapped her. I've got her location, so let's get out there."

"We need a plan," Lyla said, looking between Oliver and John. "If we just go in this half-cocked, then no one may make it out alive."

"The only person Slade wants to kill is me," Oliver hissed, storming towards the elevator. "I'm going to rescue Felicity and let Slade think he's got a chance to kill me. My bow reacts faster than he does."

Oliver stepped into the elevator, leaving Lyla and John alone in the bunker staring at one another. They were both at a loss for words. The only thing that could be done was to follow him and be the back up he was going to need, but they weren't entirely sure where he was going.

"Can this system track Oliver?" Lyla asked, turning to look at the computers.

"It can track anyone we tell it to," John replied, placing a hand on Lyla's back. "Tell me what you want me to do."

"Suit up and go after him," she replied. "He shouldn't be out there alone."


End file.
